tllVlfif £ 



AUG 17 1898 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

rrW-^ 

Chap...W.r. Copyright No. 

Shelf__,.MkS' 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



1 



REV. DR. MILLER'S BOOKS. 



SILENT TIMES. 

MAKING THE MOST OF LIFE. 

THE EVERY DAY OF LIFE. 

THE BUILDING OF CHARACTER. 

THINGS TO LIVE FOR. 

THE STORY OF A BUSY LIFE. 

PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS. 

THE JOY OF SERVICE. 

DR. MILLER'S YEAR BOOK. 

GLIMPSES THROUGH LIFE'S WINDOWS. 

THE HIDDEN LIFE. 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



BOOKLETS. 



GIRLS; FAULTS AND IDEALS. 
YOUNG MEN ; FAULTS AND IDEALS. 
SECRETS OF HAPPY HOME LIFE. 
THE BLESSING OF CHEERFULNESS. 
A GENTLE HEART. 
BY THE STILL WATERS. 
THE MARRIAGE ALTAR. 
THE SECRET OF GLADNESS. 



THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY, 

NEW YORK AND BOSTON. 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S 

PROBLEMS 



AUTHOR OF " PERSONAL FRIENDSHIPS OF JESUS," " THE EVERY 
DAY OF LIFE," " BUILDING OF CHARACTER," ETC. 



/ see viy way as birds tJieir trackless way ; 
He guides me and the birds. 

Robert Browning. 





D.D. 



New York: 46 East 14TH Street 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & COMPANY 

Boston: 100 Purchase Street 



Copyright, 1898, 
By Thomas Y. Crowell & Company. 



ID 



3 



id 




TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



C. J. PETERS & SON, TYPOGRAFHERS, 
BOSTON. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



The most important of all lessons are those 
which teach us how to live. There come points 
and experiences in every young person's life 
when a word may give help, save from mistake, 
and make the way plain and clear. It is in the 
hope of throwing light on some of the questions 
which are sure to arise in young people's lives, 
that these chapters have been written. It is 
not claimed that all the "problems" are here 
considered ; but perhaps those eager to make 
life beautiful and rich will find a little help in 
some of these pages. 

J. R. M. 



3 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Helping with the Problems 7 

II. What am I here for? 13 

III. The Home Relation 20 

IV. About your Mother 27 

V. About your Father 34 

VI. About your Friends 40 

VII. Beginning a Christian Life 48 

VIII. Getting acquainted with Christ ... 55 

IX. About Consecration 62 

X. About Prayer 70 

XI. The Bible in t he Closet 78 

XII. The Matter of Conversation .... 83 

XIII. On keeping Quiet 92 

XIV. Learning to be Thoughtful 100 

XV. On the Control of Temper 107 

XVI. Getting along with People 115 

XVII. The Matter of Social Duties .... 124 

XVIII. The Use of Time 132 

5 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX. The Making of a Man 139 

XX. On keeping up the Ideal 146 

XXI. A High Sense of Honor 153 

XXII. On doing our Best 159 

XXIII. About your Shadow 165 

XXIV. Your Little Brother . 173 

XXV. The Blessing of Work 179 

XXVI. A Girl's Questions 186 

XXVII. What is the Comfort? 194 

XXVIII. Learning Contentment 201 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



CHAPTER I. 

HELPING WITH THE PROBLEMS. 

Earnest young people have many problems. 
Life is all new to them. It is a voyage over 
new seas. It is a pilgrimage through a new 
country. At every point they are reminded, 
" Ye have not passed this way heretofore." 
Every day brings its new questions. At every 
step a new mystery arises, and they cannot rest 
until it has been solved for them. They are 
continually seeing things they have never before 
seen, and each new thing holds a new prob- 
lem for them. They are meeting experiences 
through which they have never before passed ; 
and they long to understand the meaning of 
them, and to know how to meet them. 

The world seems familiar and commonplace 
to some who have been in it for a long time ; 
7 



8 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



but it is a world of exhaustless wonders to the 
young, whose hearts are alive and whose minds 
are alert. A child that asks no questions is 
not a normal child ; questions are signs of 
mental health and activity. A young person 
with no problems is either too dull of mind to 
be moved by anything beautiful or new, or too 
indolent to think or to try to answer the ques- 
tions that evermore arise. 

Young people's problems cover the whole of 
life. Beginning with the child's eager, curious 
questions about everything, they include the 
most serious matters of existence. What am 
I ? Where did I come from ? Where am I 
going ? What am I in this world for ? What 
shall I do with my life ? How shall I treat 
other people ? What are my relations to God ? 
How shall I endure temptation, and contend 
against the evil influences which surround me 
on every hand ? How can I grow into sweet- 
ness and beauty of character ? 

These, and a thousand questions like these, 
are forever arising in the mind of the earnest, 
thoughtful young man and young woman. They 
are questions, too, which should be answered. 
The very life depends upon finding the right 
answers. 

No more important service can be rendered 



HELPING WITH THE PROBLEMS, 9 

to young people than wise help in meeting and 
answering life's questions, great or small. It 
must indeed be wise help, to be valuable, — 
else it were better not to try to help at all. 
Bad advice has wrecked many destinies. It is 
important that those who are set for the guid- 
ance of the young shall themselves know well 
the way, and shall be able to give wise coun- 
sel to such as seek it of them. Happy are the 
young people who are in natural, familiar rela- 
tions with older friends of tried experience and 
sound judgment, who are able to answer their 
questions, to throw light upon their perplexing 
problems, and to guide them wisely in this 
world's tangled paths. Many go down in de- 
feat and failure for the want of such true and 
safe help. 

One of the dangers of such friendship, how- 
ever, is too much advice. No doubt some 
young people are sorely hurt in this way. The 
very gentleness of the love that watches over 
them becomes a peril to them. One of the mis- 
takes of home-life in many families is too much 
government. The best way to help the young 
is not to solve their problems for them, but 
thoughtfully to help them to consider and 
answer their own questions. When a child 
brings home from school a hard example in 



10 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



arithmetic, the worst help is to work the ex- 
ample for him. The same is tru^ of all diffi- 
culties and perplexities of young persons. It 
is unkindness to them to do their thinking, 
choosing and deciding for them. It only makes 
them less able for meeting life's responsibilities 
when a little later they must face them alone, 
with no one who can give them counsel. Our 
best friend is not he who does the most things 
for us, but he who makes us self-reliant, who 
helps us to think and choose for ourselves, who 
inspires us ever to do our best. One of the 
tasks ancN tests of wise older friendship is self- 
restraint, self-repression, in the mVter of ad- 
vising and leading younger people. We are 
not to be dictators, but inspirers. 

Of course, if we have had longer or wider ex- 
perience, we have learned much about life and 
about the world, which should fit us for guiding 
others. But the help which others can get from 
our experience is limited. Really every one 
must learn his lesson for himself, from his own 
experience, must make his own experiments, 
must be taught by his own mistakes, must grow 
wise through his own reading thinking, and liv- 
ing. Young people must, in the end, work out 
their own problems; and he is very foolish who, 
even in kindness of heart, tries to do it for 



HELPING WITH THE PROBLEMS. II 

them. Yet there is a way of giving them help 
which is wise and may do good. We may 
stimulate, encourage, suggest, cheer, strengthen, 
and thus make their lives nobler and richer. 

In proposing to consider young people's 
problems, the writer has no thought of doing 
much more than help his readers to consider 
their own problems. Some of them probably 
fail to do even this. They seem not to realize 
that there are any problems in living. They 
never think below the surface of things. They 
are ruled by the present moment and by pass- 
ing impulses and impressions. They have 
never learned to think through the questions 
which arise, but are content to let others think 
for them, or to follow blindly the moods of the 
passing experience. 

For such as these the best service that can 
be given will be their awakening to the con- 
sciousness of the seriousness of life. For life 
is serious. We hear much said about how seri- 
ous a thing it is to die ; but really it is a much 
more serious thing to live. The dead are 
through with life's struggles ; but for those who 
still remain in this world there must be con- 
tinuous struggle, toil, and burden-bearing. Life 
is very serious, and should be met with earnest 
thought. 



12 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



There are many young people, however, who 
already understand how important it is to give 
deep thought to life's questions, so as to make 
wise decisions and right choices. They wish to 
make the most they can of their life, to avoid 
mistakes, and to find the best things. Perhaps 
it may be possible to give true brotherly help 
to some of these, if not in the way of setting 
down specific directions, which it is not always 
practicable nor even desirable to do, at least by 
throwing a little light upon the path, which may 
make it somewhat plainer or clearer for their 
inexperienced feet. 

The writer claims no special ability as an ad- 
viser of young people, and no particular right 
to their confidence, save that he has an earnest 
desire to help them find the right way, and is 
willing to tell them what he himself has learned 
in his own experience. 



CHAPTER II. 



WHAT AM I HERE FOR? 

Perhaps one of the earliest of young peo- 
ple's problems most frequently is, living itself. 
What am I in this world for ? What should I do 
with my life ? What was God's thought for me 
when he made me, and sent me here ? How 
can I find out? 

Frankly it must be confessed, however, that 
many young people do not ask these questions 
in any very definite form. Not many con- 
sciously take up the problems of life in such 
serious fashion as this. Nor would it be well 
if they were to do so. The most wholesome 
life is the least self conscious. Too much in- 
trospection, looking in upon one's self, is not 
wise. Youth ought to be without care. 

But while many do not consider life's great 
questions in any very definite way, every ear- 
nest young person thinks more or less seriously 
about what he will do with his life. He passes 
through a period of uncertainty and question- 
ing before his mission becomes clear and plain 

13 



14 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



to him. He has visions of beautiful things 
which he hopes some day to realize. He 
dreams dreams of the years before him, and 
sees himself achieving and attaining things 
which are honorable and worthy. But he has 
his days of deep thought, and sometimes of sore 
perplexity, before at last the goal appears shin- 
ing before him, bright and unmistakable. 

Much of this thinking is done for young 
people in their early years by those who have 
the direction of their training and education. 
Fortunate are they who have wise parents and 
good teachers, not who will decide for them, 
but who will give them proper direction and in- 
fluence them aright. They have opportunities 
which others who are less favored lack. But 
whether they make anything worth while of 
their opportunities depends altogether upon 
themselves. Many young persons, with splen- 
did privileges, do nothing with their life ; while 
others, with everything against them at the be- 
ginning, grow into fine character and great 
usefulness. The difference is in the persons 
themselves, and in the way they take hold of 
life. Here is where the responsibility of young 
persons themselves comes in. What will they 
make of their opportunities ? What will they 
bring out of their privileges ? 



WHAT AM I HERE FORI 



" What am I here for ? " Your being here is 
no accident ; there is divine design in it. God 
thought about you, and then made you, and 
sent you into the world for a purpose. There 
is a place he wants you to fill. There is a work 
he wants you to do. Something in the great 
divine plan for the world depends upon your 
filling your place and doing your work with 
fidelity. Other things will go wrong if you dis- 
appoint God by not fulfilling your mission. 
Even God will not do your work for you. It 
is a great step toward success to get deep into 
the heart the conviction that God has a plan 
for our life, something he made us to do. 
Goethe writes, — 

What shap'st thou here at the world? 'tis shapen long ago ; 

The Maker shaped it, he thought it best even so ; 

Thy lot is appointed, go, follow its behest; 

Thy way is begun, thou must walk, and not rest ; 

For sorrow and care cannot alter the case ; 

And running, not raging, will win thee the race. 

How shall I learn what my mission is — what 
place God made me to fill, what bit of work is 
just my own ? There really is nothing myste- 
rious in this problem. No one need ever spend 
a moment in anxious questioning about it. 
There is a very easy way to find out what our 



1 6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



mission js. If we simply do well the little duty 
of each day as it comes, we will be carrying out 
God's thought and plan for our life, and at the 
end will find that we have finished the work 
which God gave us to do. 

No one must ever imagine that his mission is 
some fine, ethereal service, unlike any common 
work of common people. Most likely it is some- 
thing very commonplace. The lowliest people, 
those who work in the humblest places, are sent 
of God just as truly as those who write immortal 
poems or sit on thrones. 

Nor must you imagine that if God made you 
for some definite place and work, he will lift 
you into your place, and put the work into your 
hands in some supernatural way. God never 
did that for anybody. Even Jesus spent thirty 
years in diligent study and hard work, in prep- 
aration for the three years of wonderful ministry 
for which he was specially sent into the world. 
Whatever fine or distinguished thing you may 
have been born to do, you must be trained for 
it in the common days and in the common 
ways. 

You must begin by being a diligent, dutiful 
child. Some of those who read these words are 
in school. School-life is important. Those who 
loiter over their lessons, or neglect, or miss 



WHAT AM I HERE FOR? 



17 



them, are dropping stitches which some day will 
cause sad ravelling out. Napoleon, when once 
visiting his old school, said to the pupils, " Boys, 
remember that every hour wasted at school 
means a chance of misfortune in future life." 
Thousands of men and women have failed of 
their mission in life because they neglected 
their lessons in school. 

Wellington said that the battle of Waterloo 
was won on the cricket-field at Eton. He meant 
that the training he had received there as a 
cricketer made him ready for fighting the great 
battle which decided so much for the world. 
We never can over-estimate the importance of 
preparation in the early days. All life de- 
pends upon it. Neglect then means failure by 
and by. 

What young people are sent into the world to 
do now, in their youth, is to study, to work, to 
be faithful in lowly duty. What larger, greater 
task may come for them after a while they do 
not know, nor need they care to know. God's 
plan for them these happy days is unrelaxing 
diligence in the things that come to their hands. 
Doing these things well will train them for doing 
the greater things which the future may give 
them to do. Diligence in the school will fit 
them for places of responsibility in business. 



1 8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



Good cricket-playing will prepare them for win 
ning victories on great battle-fields. 

"What am I in this world for?" You are 
here to do God's will, and to fulfil his purpose 
for your life. This purpose he will make known 
to you, but only day by day, as you go on. If 
you do to-day's work, whatever it is, faithfully, 
as well as you can, that will be a little of God's 
will done, a fragment of God's plan for your 
life filled out ; and then it will prepare you for 
doing next day's part of that plan when it is 
put into your hand. 

There is an education, a building of character, 
going on in you all the while, even in the com- 
monest, dullest, routine task-work. In the daily 
details of household tasks or office-work, you 
are learning patience, promptness, carefulness, 
diligence, power to endure. It may irk you to 
have to obey rules, to go always by the clock, 
to rise at the same hour every morning, to an- 
swer calls and bells ; but out of this wearisome 
drudgery you will get the fine things of charac- 
ter which will make you strong, noble, rich- 
hearted, helpful to others, stable and secure for 
men to lean upon. 

But remember always that you will never fill 
the place God made you to fill, nor do the work 
he has .set down for you in his plan, unless you 



WHAT AM I HERE FOR? 1 9 



learn the lessons he appoints for you in the days 
of your youth. Wasted youthful days mean 
failure in life. 

" The day has ended and the sun has set, 
Unfinished is the task I planned to do ; 
I sit and ponder o'er with deep regret 

The golden sunlight vanished from my view. 

And thus full oft, at last, when life doth close, 
And toil is ended for the restless feet, 

And for the busy hands the long repose, 
The cherished work of life is incomplete. 

O Thou, who knowest all from sun to sun, 

From birthday morning to death's evening chill, 

Look on thy children, with their tasks undone, 
In loving kindness, and forgive them still." 



CHAPTER III. 



THE HOME RELATION. 

Perhaps the home relation should present 
no problem for young people. It would not 
if homes were perfect. But the best homes on 
earth are only schools, with the lessons only 
partially learned. It is important that careful 
attention be given to these lessons now, for the 
opportunity to learn them will soon be gone. 
It is a serious misfortune for any one to go out 
from his home without having mastered the les- 
sons which mean so much to him in preparation 
for life. 

It is not always easy for young people to ac- 
cept their place in the home, and adjust them- 
selves to its limitations. It may as well be 
confessed frankly trrat the spirit of indepen- 
dence is usually strong in the breast of youth. 
Many young people chafe under the restraints 
of parental authority. They see no reason why 
they should submit. Some yield only after a 
struggle, and always with ill grace. Others do 
not yield at all, continually maintaining a spirit 
20 



THE HOME RELATION. 



21 



of rebellion, which mars the harmony and the 
happiness of the home, and leaves them undis- 
ciplined in character, and unready for the duties 
and responsibilities that await them when they 
leave the home door. 

It should be clearly understood by all young 
people that parental authority is a divine ordi- 
nance. The Bible teaches that children shall 
submit themselves to their parents. One of the 
Ten Commandments expressly says, " Honor 
thy father and thy mother." To honor includes 
full and unquestioning obedience, while it im- 
plies also far more than mere formal obedience; 
it asks for love and respect, also homage. 

Jesus set the example for all ideal human 
life, and the honor he gave to his home and to 
his parents is the example for all young people 
in their home. It was after he had' had a vision 
of his higher relation to his Father in heaven 
that he went back with his parents to Nazareth, 
and continued subject to them. He found his 
heavenly Father's business for eighteen years 
longer in the lowly duties df the home relation. 
The submission of Jesus to parental authority 
and to home restraints shows that there is noth- 
ing unworthy in such subjection, but that, on 
the other hand, such recognition of authority 
is most fitting and beautiful. 



22 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



The problem of the home relation is entirely 
solved in most instances when children have 
accepted their divinely appointed place in the 
family. Sometimes, however, there are special 
and peculiar conditions in a home which appear 
to young people themselves to make it impos- 
sible for them to live sweetly and happily in 
the relation in which they find themselves. Not 
all family government is ideal. There may be 
too much of the monarchical. Or there may be 
in the parents a lack of that self-mastery which 
is essential in those who would rule others well. 
Or there may be an utter absence of any true, 
discipline — a home without government of any 
kind. Or there may be no religious life in the 
home ; it may be thoroughly worldly, or even 
sinful. 

In such cases the question may arise in the 
mind of a thoughtful young person who is try- 
ing to live worthily, "How can I do my part in 
the home where there is such failure on the 
part of others to do their part ? " To this ques- 
tion the answer in general is, that no want of 
faithfulness in others can exempt us from the 
duty of being faithful, or change our duty in 
the slightest degree. One sin never excuses 
another. One's neglect of duty never absolves / 
another from duty. You will do most toward 



THE HOME RELATION, 2$ 



correcting the faults or evils in your home by 
being all the more careful in your own life. If 
one member of the household is touchy, easily 
provoked, or is always saying or doing some- 
thing to irritate the others, the way to make the 
very worst of the matter is for you to be like 
tinder, flashing up under every slightest provo- 
cation. The best way, however, to cure the 
fault in others is for you to be patient, for- 
bearing, ready by fine tact to turn the oppor- 
tunity for bitterness into humor — giving always 
the soft answer that turneth away wrath. 

The art of living together, even within the 
sacred precincts of a home, is one that has to 
be learned ; it does not come naturally. Home 
life is a splendid school for self-discipline. No 
one can have his own way altogether ; there 
must be constant mutual concession. The 
young people of the household must learn that 
they, too, have to yield their preferences many 
times. Not only are there other people, but 
the other people are very close to them, and 
the law of love must ever hold sway in all the 
relations. 

Young people usually have to learn to be 
thoughtful ; thoughtfulness is not, in many per- 
sons at least, a natural grace. They are apt 
to speak out their feelings without thinking 



24 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

whom their words may hurt. They are apt to 
assert their rights without reference to the 
rights of others, and to follow their own hasty 
impulses without asking how their acts may 
affect those who are bound up with them in 
love's covenants. 

The lesson of thoughtfulness well learned will 
solve many of the most serious problems of home 
life. Thoughtfulness includes the whole of the 
wonderful lesson of love taught by St. Paul in 
his immortal thirteenth chapter of First Corin- 
thians. Love suffered! long and is kind. Love 
envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed 
up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh 
not its own, is not provoked, taketh not ac- 
count of evil, beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

The lesson is put in another form in our 
Lord's life-motto : " Not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister." Any one who puts himself on 
a pedestal, a little throne, in the home, and de- 
mands attention, honor, homage, service, from 
the others, is going to be a serious troubler of 
the home life. Love's way is to seek not to be 
helped, but to help ; not to be honored, but to 
honor ; not to be waited upon, but to serve 
others in all loving ways. Those who have 
this aim pervading all their desire help to make 



THE HOME RELATION. 25 



the home life sweet and gentle. The spirit of 
serving is the spirit of Christ. We should train 
our hands to gentle ministries, our feet to 
errands of love, and our lips to encouraging 
speech. 

The problem of the home-making is for the 
young people, the growing up or the grown-up 
children, quite as much as for the parents. 
They can mar all the beauty and all the good 
which the father and mother make with so 
much toil and care. One selfish son or daugh- 
ter ofttimes destroys the peace and happiness 
of a whole household. On the other hand, one 
thoughtful, self-forgetful son or daughter may 
become the sweetener of the family life, sharing 
burdens, lightening cares, giving cheer, filling 
the house with song. Let the young people 
therefore accept their responsibility, and faith- 
fully and gladly do their part in making the 
home. In trying to make happiness for others 
they will find the surest way of making happi- 
ness for themselves. 

There is need for most careful thought on 
this subject. The home life is peculiarly sensi- 
tive to every influence from within. We do not 
seem ready to take as much from our own as 
we do from those outside. We are apt not to 
manifest the same self-control in our house- 



26 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



hold relations that we do in our business life or 
our mere social relations. This very sensitive- 
ness of the home hearts makes it all the more 
important that we should ever be exceedingly 
careful in all that we do and say within our 
own doors. Our own should get always the 
best we have to give. What one writes of 
Christian life in general is especially true of 
Christian life within the home doors: — 

The hands that do God's work are patient hands, 
And quick for toil, though folded oft in prayer; 
They do the unseen work they understand 
And find — no matter where. 

The feet that follow his must be swift feet, 
For time is all too short, the way too long; 
Perchance they will be bruised, but falter not, 
For love shall make them strong. 

The lips that speak God's words must learn to wear 
Silence and calm, although the pain be long; 
And, loving so the Master, learn to share 
His agony and wrong. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ABOUT YOUR MOTHER. 

She is the first friend you ever had. When 
you came into this great world as an utter 
stranger, not knowing any one, never having 
looked into any face, you found love waiting 
for you. Instantly you had a friend, a bosom 
to nestle in, an arm to encircle you, an eye to 
watch you, a hand to minister to your helpless- 
ness and need. Your mother received you 
eagerly, took you into her deepest heart, and 
began to live for you. 

You never can know what you owe to your 
mother. It was a long while before you even 
knew what she was doing for you. In your 
helpless infancy she sheltered you and cared 
for you in unwearying patience and gentleness. 
She nursed you through your colics, your 
teething, your whooping-cough, your measles, 
and all the other ills which infancy is heir to. 
She walked the floors with you nights, trying 
to soothe your pains and quiet your bad 
tempers. She gave up her days to you, teach- 
27 



28 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ing you how to walk, how to talk, how to use 
your hands, your eyes, your ears, and giving 
you your first lessons in loving, in praying, 
and in everything beautiful. 

You do not know, you never can know, all 
that your mother has done for you. It was not 
easy, either, for her to do it. She never com- 
plained, for love does not count the cost of its 
serving and sacrificing ; but there was serious 
cost nevertheless. Some of the lines you see 
in her face these days are marks left by the 
toil and care which she gave so freely to you 
— price-marks of her unselfish love. Perhaps 
she is not so beautiful as she used to be — 
has wrinkles, and a tired look, and seems 
older, with more gray hairs. Not so beautiful ? 
Ah, she is more beautiful just because of 
these lines and traces and furrows. They are 
love's handwriting. They are like the soldier's 
scars — honorable, because they tell what she 
has suffered, sacrificed, endured, for love of 
you. 

Now, what about this mother of yours? Do 
you think you appreciate her at her true 
worth ? Do you think you are returning to her 
in the worthiest way the love which she has 
lavished upon you through the years ? Do you 
think you are proving yourself worthy of such 



ABOUT YOUR MOTHER. 29 



unselfishness, such self-forgetfulness, such lov- 
ing and serving unto the uttermost ? It is 
very beautiful when a mother is old and fee- 
ble, or sick, to see her children ministering to her 
in sweet love, without thought of cost, without 
stint of sacrifice, doing all they can to comfort, 
bless, and brighten her old age. Often this 
picture is seen. When the children were in 
their infancy the mother's hands ministered to 
them in countless ways ; now they are giving 
back a little of the love, paying a portion of 
the debt they owe to her. Heaven must look 
down with gladness upon such holy scenes. 

But not all loving mothers are sick or infirm ; 
sometimes they are strong and active, but 
lonely. Are you good to your mother when 
she is not an invalid ? Some of us wait until our 
friends are sick before we show them the best 
that is in our heart. One said to-day — a sick 
woman — that she Lad never dreamed she had 
so many friends, or that they loved her so much, 
until she fell alarmingly ill — the doctor said 
she might not recover. Then the love poured 
out. Everybody she had ever known came to 
ask for her, and to express sympathy with her 
in her suffering, or to offer service. 

This was very beautiful. But it would have 
been better if some of the love had been shown 



30 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



before, when she was well and strong, carry- 
ing burdens and dispensing good. It would 
have made life easier and sweeter for her. It 
would have put into her heart courage for even 
better and richer serving. 

If your mother were to grow very sick to- 
morrow, there is nothing you would not do for 
her gladly and cheerfully. She would be most 
grateful to you, too, for your gentle kindness. 
But think how much of this ministry of love 
you might render now, though she is not sick. 
For example, you can give her your fullest con- 
fidence, and keep up a close and intimate friend- 
ship with her. Some young people drift away 
from their mother. They do not give her their 
heart's confidence as they used to do in their 
childhood. They hide things from her. They 
resent her questions when she would know 
about their companionships, their friendships, 
their pleasures, their plans of life. 

It is a great comfort to a good mother to 
have her children confide in her, always telling 
her everything. Why should they not ? Surely 
she has a right to know their most confidential 
affairs. The son, now a full-grown man, with 
heart and hands full, can give his mother no 
greater joy than by coming into her room every 
evening for a little confidential talk, just such 



ABOUT YOUR MOTHER. 



31 



as he used to have with her when he was a little 
fellow. The daughter, now a woman, need 
never be afraid to trust her mother with all the 
interests of her happy life. She needs the 
mother-counsel quite as much now as she did 
when she was a child, and the mother-heart 
craves the sweet confidence. We should never 
cease to be children to our mother. Nothing 
is more beautiful than such intimacy of children 
with a mother, even though the children be men 
and women in mid-life. To the mother they 
are always children, and their confidence is 
always sweet and sacred. 

Another way you can return your mother's 
love, pay the debt you owe her, especially if 
you are a daughter, is by relieving her as 
much as possible of the care of the home and 
the housekeeping. Some daughters seem very 
thoughtless about this. The mother always has 
done everything — perhaps she has done her 
children harm in this very way. Some mothers 
are altogether too good to their children, make 
life too easy for them, bear too many of their 
burdens. It is mistaken kindness. Our best 
friend — the best mother — is one who makes 
us do what we can ourselves, thus training us 
to self -reliance j It were better for mothers to 
do as the eagle does with her young — make 



32 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



the nest rough for them, even push them out 
of it, that they may learn to use their own 
wings. 

But no daughter, when she is old enough to 
think, should ever be content to let her 
mother continue to do for her, while she her- 
self sits with folded hands, or runs the streets 
with her friends, or passes her time reading 
novels. She ought to determine to do her 
part, that her mother may have rest. It is not 
a picture w r hich heaven can rejoice over, — a 
strong, healthy girl crimping, dressing, walk- 
ing, reading, receiving, and calling, all the 
while; and her poor tired mother toiling, slav- 
ing, serving, in kitchen and living-room, cook- 
ing, sweeping, dusting, sewing, darning, until 
her strength is exhausted. 

This is enough to start earnest thought about 
your mother. What kind of a child are you to 
this good mother of yours? No matter about 
your age ; for whether you are younger or older, 
it is all the same. What kind of a child are 
you to your mother? We make our life beauti- 
ful only when we are true and faithful in all 
our relations with others. No matter to what 
eminence we may attain, or to what noble char- 
acter, there will always be a blot on our record 
and on our life as God sees it, if in climbing 



ABOUT YOUR MOTHER. 



33 



upward ourselves we fail in any of love's du- 
ties to others. To be a complete man or wo- 
man in the world, you must be ever a loyal and 
faithful child to the mother to whom you owe 
so much. 

" God thought to give the sweetest thing 

In his almighty power 
To earth; and deeply pondering 

What it should be, one hour, 
In fondest joy and love of heart 

Outweighing every other, 
He moved the gates of heaven apart 

And gave to earth — a mother." 



CHAPTER V. 



ABOUT YOUR FATHER. 

Perhaps fathers have been neglected. Vol- 
umes have been written and countless sermons 
have been preached about mothers. Their de- 
votion and self-sacrifice have been commented 
upon without stint. Children are taught to 
honor their mother, to remember always what 
she has done for them, and what they owe to 
her, to think of her happiness, and to care for 
her in her old age, with all gentleness and 
thoughtfulness. 

This is well. No words can exaggerate the 
sacredness of motherhood, or the value and im- 
portance of the mother's influence on the child. 
God comes to us first in our mother. The old 
rabbis said, "God could not be everywhere, 
and therefore he made mothers." We cannot 
pay too much honor to our mother, nor do too 
much to bring comfort and blessing to her. 

But the fathers should not be forgotten. It 
is not fair, for example, to do all the preaching 
to mothers, with scarcely a passing exhortation 
34 



ABOUT YOUR FATHER. 35 



to fathers. Where does any one find in the 
Bible that mothers have all the responsibility 
for the training and bringing up of the chil- 
dren? The Scriptures certainly lay the burden 
upon both parents ; at least, they do not put it 
all on the mother. The father is to teach his 
children the commandments of God ; the mother 
cannot be held alone responsible for their re- 
ligious instruction. It is time some sermons 
were prepared and preached, and some chapters 
written, on the solemnity and sacredness of 
fatherhood. 

Then, in the building of the home, the father, 
unless he be a most unworthy man or an utter 
nonenity, has an essential part. There are 
good fathers; not all are indifferent to their 
home. There are many men wlib are truly de- 
voted to the interests of their families. The 
mother may seem to get nearer a child's heart, 
and to be first in influence upon a child's life. 
But it is time an earnest word was spoken in 
behalf of fathers — of the nobleness and worth 
of their part in the home life, and the honor 
due to them from children. 

What has your father clone for you ? He did 
not nurse you, and wash and dress you, when 
you were a crying baby. He did not rock 
your cradle, did not teach you the hundred first 



36 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



lessons of infancy, did not mend your play- 
things, help you with your dolls, nor even train 
you in saying your prayers. There are many 
things which were very important in your bring- 
ing up which most likely your father did not do. 
No doubt there are elements in your thoughts 
of your mother which have no place in your 
visions of fatherhood, as it forms itself before 
you out of memory's holy experiences. 

Yet there are other elements which belong 
rather to fatherhood than to motherhood, and 
which were quite as important in the sheltering 
and moulding of your childhood, as those which 
are so idealized in the pictures of true mother- 
hood. We think of the tenderness there is in 
a mother's heart, something wondrously akin 
to the divine tenderness, inexhaustible in its 
patience, its thoughtfulness, and its comforting 
power. But corresponding to this in the true 
father there is strength, strength which toils, 
which defends, which shelters from the rough 
storm, which stands like a rock. Surely strength 
is as divine as tenderness. There may be less 
sentimentality in it, but for life's practical uses 
its value is no less than that of the softer 
quality. 

Think of the sturdy side of your father's char- 
acter, and of what it has been to you. If your 



ABOUT YOUR FATHER. 37 



mother's love made the home-life which was 
like a heavenly summer to you, it was your 
father who built the material home in which such 
holy warmth was possible. It was your father 
who earned the money which provided the com- 
forts. It was your father who braved the storms 
of winter and endured the heats of summer to 
make shelter for you. You never can know ' 
just how your father toiled for you, how he 
denied himself ofttimes that you might not 
want anything, how he made sacrifices that bet- 
ter privileges than he himself had ever enjoyed 
might be yours. There is something very 
pathetic in the way some fathers struggle and 
deny themselves, that they may save their chil- 
dren the necessity for struggle and self-denial. 

Then, if you have been blessed with a good 
father, think of all the privileges you have en- 
joyed from his toil. Children are the inheri- 
tors of their father's name as well as his 
property. If he lives worthily, he lifts them 
up to a place of honor in the community. 
Think of the education you have had, the op- 
portunities for growth in knowledge and wis- 
dom. Perhaps your father had only scant 
schooling in his youth, and now you are in the 
academy or the college. 

A little thought or reflection will show you 



38 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



that you owe to your father a large debt for 
favors and blessings which are of incalculable 
value to you. Perhaps you have been in the 
habit of saying that Providence is very good to 
you. Yes, but your father is your providence, 
— under God, of course, but nevertheless in- 
disputably ; for without your father's toil and 
faithfulness these blessings would not have 
been yours. God sent them ; but it was your 
father's hand that earned them, and gathered 
them about your life. 

Then, apart from all this, think what your 
father has been to you as an influence. All 
through your formative years he was ever be- 
fore you, coming and going, a man of truth and 
righteousness, diligent, punctual in his duty, 
brave in struggle, firm in his opinions and 
principles. It is no small thing to have grown 
up beneath the shadow of such righteousness of 
character. Perhaps he was stern at times, and 
even severe and cold, lacking the gentleness 
which was so beautiful in your mother; yet it 
was a splendid education which you got from 
this abiding vision of strength, truth, and jus- 
tice ; and you owe far more to it than you can 
ever understand. 

Only a single glimpse of the distinguishing 
qualities of true fatherhood has thus been given, 



ABOUT YOUR FATHER. 39 



but it is enough to help young people to remem- 
ber that they have a father as well as a mother, 
and that to him as well as to her they owe love, 
honor, and grateful treatment. Naturally, less 
sentiment gathers about a father in his advan- 
cing years than about a mother at like age. But 
no little child should ever fail of filial duty to a 
father. The commandment reads, " Honor thy 
father and thy mother." 

The ways in which we may show honor to our 
father are many. We may hold his name dear 
and sacred. We may surround him with love 
— he craves gentleness and affectionateness 
just as much as our mother does. We may 
seek to be his helper in his work, interesting 
ourselves in it. Children are responsible for 
the full success of their father's life. They 
may tear down all that he has builded, or they 
s may carry on to completion what he has begun, 
and fill his old age with joy and comfort. 

But think it out for yourself, — what your 
father has been to you personally, what you 
owe to him, and how you may make fit return 
for what he has done for you and been to you. 
We may properly read the rabbi's saying thus, 
" God could not be everywhere, and therefore 
he made fathers." 



t 



CHAPTER VI. 

ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS.^ 

Friendships begin very early. Little chil- 
dren form tender associations which mean much 
to their happiness, and which sometimes last 
through their life. We all need friendships. 
In solitary confinemWt men have been known 
to make friends of insects and little animals, 
the only living creatures they could have for 
companions. Aloneness is one of the most 
pathetic experiences of human life. 

Nothing is more important to young people 
than the choosing of their friends. Really it 
x is almost the settling of their whole future. v 
The kind of friends one begins with one is apt 
to stay with always. If you accept and choose 
as your friends in early ^outh those who are 
good, refined, and aspiring, you are setting 
your life in the direction of whatsoever things 
are true, just, honorable, pure, and lovely. Al- 
most certainly your whole future will be on the 
same wholesome lines. But if you attach your- 
self then in friendship to those who are un- ^ 
40 



ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS. 



41 



worthy, whose life is earthly and sinful, who 
are not true and noble, you, in effect, fix your 
place and your character in a drift which will 
be toward things that are not good, and that do 
not tend to honor and beauty of soul. 

There is a sense in which our friends are 
chosen for us before we are old enough to dis- 
tinguish between the worthy and the unworthy, 
those who will help us upward, and those who 
will drag us downward. Happy is the child 
who is under the influence and guidance of wise 
and good parents, who see to it that the first 
friendships formed are what they should be! 
The indifference of parents in this matter oft- 
times has been responsible for the wrecking of 
* their children's lives. They paid no heed to 
the character of the playmates and companions 
of their earliest years; exercised no restraining 
influence, no discrimination, in choosing be- 
tween the fit and the unfit in those whom they 
admitted as their children's first friends. While 
they slept the enemy sowed tares. 

But after the years of infancy and earliest 
youth, young people have a great deal to do 
with the choosing of their own friends. I am 
not speaking of love between young men and 
young women, of love which may ripen into 
marriage; I am speaking of friendship, which 



42 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



is a different matter altogether. Love presents 
a " problem" of its own; but we all need com- 
mon friendships, and it is very important that 
they be formed wisely and carefully. There is 
a tendency among young people to be altogether 
too indiscriminate in forming their friendships. 
All who come are admitted to a kind of general 
intimacy. Youth is hospitable to friendships, 
and is disposed to confide without question, 
and to make room for every new companionship 
that offers. There is need, however, for reserve 
at this point. No doubt the law of Christian 
love requires us to be courteous to all, even to 
strangers, to show the grace of kindness to ev- 
ery one we meet, even most casually. But we 
are not required to take every chance acquaint- 
ance into the place of friendship. Here we 
must learn to exercise the greatest caution and 
reserve. 

Character should be made a test. Young 
people should shut out of their life everything 
that would defile or tarnish, and whatever would 
make it harder for them to be true and worthy. 
Life's battle is sore enough at best, and instead 
of admitting influences which would make the 
struggle for them more severe, they should seek 
always the contacts and inspirations which will 
make it easier for them to live nobly and worth- 



ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS. 43 



ily. To take into the life a friendship which 
is not good and pure, which will become a temp- 
tation toward a lower moral standard, toward a 
less beautiful and helpful life, toward frivolous- 
ness, indolence, irreverence, or selfishness, is, 
at the best, to make it harder to live beautifully. 
Young people should have the courage to shut 
out of their life all friendships whose influence 
could work in them only moral deterioration, 
and hinder their growth into the best possible 
character. 

" Thou shalt need all the strength that God can give 
Simply to live, my friend, simply to live." 

Among other qualities, sympathy is required 
in those who would make us good friends. 
There must be intercourse, and intercourse is 
impossible between unsympathetic spirits. This 
does not necessarily mean that there shall be 
agreement in all their opinions — difference of 
view ofttimes adds interest and zest to inter- 
course; but the natures must have a conge- 
niality that will make it easy for them to blend. 
There are natures which never can blend, — they 
are to each other like fire and tinder. Instead 
of calling out the best, each brings out the 
worst in the other. In deciding upon who their 
friends shall be, young people should choose 



44 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

only chose with whom they can live in cordial 
sympathy. 

It is well also that between friends the rela- 
tions shall be such that neither shall be too 
greatly dependent on the other. One quality 
of all true friendship is the desire " not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister. " A friend- 
ship whose chief object is to receive, to be 
helped, to be served, is only selfish. On the 
other hand, one must be willing to receive as 
well as to give. All giving and helping, with 
no receiving or being helped, is not a practical 
basis of good friendship. It is better therefore 
that there be, as nearly as possible, an equality 
of condition, so that the help given may be 
mutual and reciprocal. 

It is not necessary that your friends should 
be about your own age. Every young person 
ought to have friends older than himself. The 
older are better for counsel ; and the young 
people are fortunate indeed who have one or 
two wise, true, and sympathetic friends of more 
years than their own, to whom they can go -with 
the serious questions and problems which contin- 
ually arise in every earnest mind. Young persons 
often advise rashly and impetuously ; an older 
friend, who has learned wisdom in the experi- 
ences of years, will give wiser and safer counsel. 



ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS. 



45 



We need to be ever seeking new friends, or 
at least holding our heart's doors open to receive 
the new friends whom God may send to us. 
We need new friends to take the place of those 
we lose as we go on our way. Death is ever 
busy, and no friendship is strong enough to 
resist his cruel hand. Friends are lost, too, in 
other ways, sometimes by reason of changes in 
life's conditions. 

Then friendships seem sometimes to be out- 
grown. We deplore their dying out, when per- 
haps the truth is that these friendships were 
sent to us on a definite errand, to minister to us 
in a particular way and but for a time. Then, 
when their ministry is completed, they fall off. 
But we have not really lost them, nor should 
we ever forget them, or the part they have had 
in the making of our life. God sends us new 
friends for new needs, not to displace the old, 
but to carry on the good which the old began. 
Robert Louis Stevenson tells us that, — 

"The dearest friends are the auldest friends, 
And the young are just on trial." 

i 

One friend is not enough. Some young 
people are inclined to make one very intimate 
friendship, and to .allow that to exclude all 
other companionships. Sometimes they are so 



46 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

exacting as to demand that the one favored 
friend shall scarcely even treat any other person 
kindly. Such an exacting spirit is very narrow, 
showing utter selfishness and want of confidence 
in the friend who is held in such bondage. 

Young people will do well, also, to guard 
against too great and too unreserved intimacy 
even with their best friends. There is sure to 
be an estrangement sooner or later if the asso- 
ciation is too close or free. For example, when 
two girls are seen always together, almost giv- 
ing up every other friendship and companion- 
ship for each other, it is usually safe to predict 
a short-lived intimacy. By and by they grow 
tired of each other. It is better always, even 
in the closest friendship, to maintain a measure 
of reserve, never to give all, not to see too 
much of each other. A friendship which exer- 
cises wise self-restraint, which is not too emo- 
tional, too free and unreserved, will prove the 
surest and the most lasting, and in all ways the 
most wholesome. 

It need not even be said that young people 
would better chose for their friends those who 
love and follow Christ. There is a wondrous 
secret of safety in Christian companionship. 
The intercourse which deepens into true Chris- 
tian fellowship is very sacred. The friendship 



ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS. 47 



which is hallowed by the love of Christ is woven 
of a threefold cord which cannot be broken. 
God reveals his love to us in the love of our 
true Christian friends. It is he who gives us 
our friends, and we must recognize the gift 
with reverence and love. 

It is well for us to remember that friendship 
requires also something on our part. It cannot 
be all on one side. Love may be, but friend- 
ship must give as well as receive. It costs to 
be a friend. Then we must be worthy if we 
would take another life into the place of con- 
fidence and affection. Charles Lamb warned 
a young man who was disposed to confide in 
him that he was not good enough to be his 
friend. We need to make sure that our heart 
is pure and that our hands are clean before we 
accept the confidence and trust of a human 
heart. Then we must be loyal and faithful to 
our friend, once chosen, whatever the cost 
may be. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BEGINNING A CHRISTIAN LIFE. 

Every young person should be a Christian. 
All the heart's truest instincts would lead the 
soul to God. Christ alone can answer our 
cravings and satisfy our longings. In him alone 
can any one find himself, and reach the things 
that are true and right and lovely. 

How may one begin to be a Christian ? The 
hunger is in the heart, the desire to take Christ 
as Saviour and Master; but many a young per- 
son passes through a long experience of painful 
anxiety and perplexity in finding the way into 
the light of faith and peace. A friend, know- 
ing that I am considering young people's prob- 
lems, writes in a personal letter': " Some time 
will you ask people to help children to come to 
Christ and confess him ? Oh, the weeks and 
months that I suffered, trying to gain courage 
to speak to my mother before she guessed it 
and came to me ! " 

This is a common experience of childhood. 
Children long to have some one to speak to 



BEGINNING A CHRISTIAN LIFE. 49 

them about Christ, so that they can voice their 
heart's yearnings, and come out in joyful accep- 
tance and confession of Christ. They love 
Christ, and want to speak of their love ; but they 
need the touch of human love to help them. 
Happy are the young people who at this critical 
point in their spiritual history have wise, gentle, 
patient guidance. 

To begin to be a Christian is to learn that 
God loves you ; that you are his child ; that 
Jesus Christ stands beside you, asking you to 
believe in him, to commit your life to him ; and 
that you may without fear, doubt, or reserve, 
trust him. It is not by our love for Christ that 
we are saved, but by Christ's love for us. 
Faith in Christ is simply the acceptance of 
divine friendship. You need not trouble your- 
self about the smallness of your love or the 
feebleness of your faith ; your hope and your 
security are not measured either by your love 
or by your faith, but by the infinite love and 
strength in which you are trusting. 
r N The first thing is to get your relation with 
Christ clearly established. He loves you, and 
you, accept his love. He would take your life 
as it is, with all its sin, fault, and shortcoming, 
as you put it into his hands. You need not 
understand it all, — there is no reason why you 



50 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

should. You believe that Christ has all power, 
all wisdom, all love. His hands are safe hands, 
skilful hands, gentle hands, hands of love. He 
can take your soul, which sin has hurt and 
stained, no matter how sorely, and restore it 
to beauty. Faith is the committing of the life 
to him for salvation, for guidance, for care and 
keeping, for time and eternity. 

Then the next step is the acceptance of Christ 
as your Master and Lord. A Christian is one 
who follows Christ. This means the surrender 
of the whole life to him. The heart must be 
given up. There can be no Christian life with- 
out love. Jesus demands the first place in the 
affections of his followers. If any one loves 
father or mother, brother or sister, wife or 
child, more than him, he is not worthy of him, 
and cannot be his disciple. 

Soldiers may obey implicitly without love ; 
but the most perfect obedience, if the heart be 
not in it, would not make one a Christian. We 
might devote our life and strength to Christian 
work, toiling unweariedly in the service of the 
church, giving our money lavishly for the ad- 
vancement of Christianity or for the relief of 
suffering, and yet not be Cnristians. Love for 
Christ must be the motive at the heart of all 
our work. " Lovest thou me ? " is the test. 



BEGINNING A CHRISTIAN LIFE. 5 I 

But the heart draws the whole life after it. 
If we love, we will serve. " If ye love me, keep 
my commandments." " Ye are my friends, if ye 
do whatsoever I command you." We cannot 
accept Christ as our Saviour, and not at the 
same time accept him as our Master. We must 
begin at once to obey him ; and our obedience 
must be without reserve, without condition, 
without question. It must also be cheerful and 
glad-hearted, not compulsory, reluctant, or con- 
strained. Christians are soldiers of Christ, and 
the soldier's first duty is to obey. Whether the 
will of Christ be made known to us in his word, 
through our own conscience, or in providence, 
we should always promptly and cheerfully accept 
and obey. It may not be always easy — it may 
be very hard and costly ; but when the will of 
our Master is made known, if we are his followers 
we can only obey, and our obedience should be 
sweet with love. 

Consecration is nothing but being a Christian 
from the centre of our heart to the tips of our 
fingers, and being a Christian always, wherever 
we go. " Whose I am and whom I serve " was 
one great Christian's idea of the life we should 
live. A Christian belongs to Christ, and knows 
it and remembers it wherever he is. 

Jesus spoke Mary's name — she did not rec- 



52 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS, 

ognize him before, she supposed him to be the 
gardener ; but when he said " Mary ! n she knew 
him, and from her heart said, " Rabboni I n It 
is always just that way. We love him because 
he first loved us ; we know him because he first 
calls us. He speaks our name, and then we say 
" Rabboni, Master ! " Christ is ours and we 
are Christ's. That is becoming a Christian. 
Then, being a Christian is living out that same 
life of love, obedience, surrender, and service, 
through all the days. 

There is something else ; he who loves Christ 
loves his brother also. To begin to be a Chris- 
tian is to remove from the arctic zone of cold 
selfishness into the warm summer zone of love. 
We cannot make too much of our relation 
to Christ, — that is the beginning of it all ; but 
we have relations to others as well. We are 
to live in the thirteenth chapter of First Corin- 
thians, with love that suffereth long and is 
kind, that envieth not, is not puffed up, doth 
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, 
is not provoked, beareth all things, endureth 
all things. The Christian life that does not 
make us more gentle, more patient, more un- 
selfish, is not realizing its true meaning. A 
Christian life is a new Christ-life lived out in 
this world — we are to be Christ to others. 



BEGINNING A CHRISTIAN LIFE. 53 



When we love Christ we will want our brother 
to love him too. We will strive to bring others 
to him to find the same joy we have found. We 
will seek to bring back the one who is wander- 
ing. One writes the lesson thus : — 

" First seek thy Saviour out, and dwell 
Beneath the shadow of his roof, 
Till thou have scanned his features well, 
And known him for the Christ by proof, — 

Such proof as they are sure to find, 
Who spend with him their happy days; 

Clean hands and a self-ruling mind, 
Ever in tune for love and praise. 

Then, potent with the spell of heaven, 
Go, and thine erring brother gain ; 

Entice him home to be forgiven, 
Till he, too, sees his Saviour plain." 

The heart of the Christian should be a well 
of living water, a fount of holy and blessed in- 
fluences, whose streams flow in all directions, 
carrying comfort, cheer, encouragement, help, 
and gladness to every other life they reach. 
Mere orthodoxy of belief does not make one a 
Christian, nor does attention to ecclesiastical 
rites and rules; a Christian is one in whom the 
life of Christ pulses and the love of Christ glows 
and burns. 



54 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

When should a young person become a Chris- 
tian ? At once, is the answer — to-day. Not 
an hour should be lost. The whole life belongs 
to Christ, not the mature years alone, but the 
earliest days as well ; not the ripe fruit merely, 
but the bud and the flower as well; not the 
mid-day only, with its heat and burden, but the 
morning, too, with its sweetness and freshness. 
One cannot come too early to Christ. Listen 
to the first gentle voices in your heart. Yield 
to the first influences of the divine Spirit. Give 
Christ the beginnings of your life. 

It is a serious mistake for young people to 
wait until they can begin with deep experiences 
and conspicuous activities ; they should begin 
as little children. Christian life is a school ; 
we are to enter the lowest forms and become 
learners, advancing day by day. " Come unto 
me, and learn of me," is the Master's invita- 
tion. The best time to begin a Christian life 
is in childhood, when the heart is tender, when 
it is easy to learn. 

" He who waits to have his task marked out 
Shall die and leave his errand unfulfilled." 



CHAPTER VIII. 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST. 

Many young Christians do not get to know 
Christ as a personal friend for a good while 
after they have begun trusting him as their 
Saviour. This is natural ; for we cannot see 
Christ, nor hear his voice, and it is only through 
experience that we can get acquainted with him 
as a friend. Yet it may help some young 
Christians to think a little of this subject. 

Late one night I was sent for to visit a young 
woman who was in the last stages of consump- 
tion. She belonged to a household of orphaned 
children. From her infancy she had faithfully 
maintained the habit of daily prayer. She had 
read her Bible, attended church services, and 
had lived a good life, quiet, thoughtful, beau- 
tiful, without blame. There is no doubt that 
she had been a Christian for years. 

Yet when I sat at her bedside that night, and 
began to speak with her, I saw that she had no 
conscious personal friendship with Christ. I 
spoke to her, gently as I could, of God's won- 

55 



56 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

derful love for her. I told her that God was 
her Father, and that he had been caring for 
her with infinite tenderness all her years. I 
then spoke to her of Jesus Christ, of his dying 
for her, and then of his being alive. I dwelt 
especially upon the fact that he had been her 
companion, her guide, her protector, her per- 
sonal friend, all through her life. 

When I had spoken thus for a little while, 
she looked up into my face and said, with an 
expression I cannot soon forget, " And I never 
knew him ! w It was a moment of revelation 
to her. For the first time in all her life she was 
becoming conscious of the personal relation of 
Christ to her. She now became aware, as by 
the sudden lifting of a veil, of One standing 
by her side, One who had been with her all 
her life, who had been blessing her in countless 
gentle ways, who had ministered to her from 
the riches of his love and grace, but whom, 
until this moment, she had never recognized. 

From that time until she was lifted away into 
the heavenly life, she lived in sweet, conscious 
enjoyment of Christ's presence, companionship, 
and love. All that was wanted was to make 
her aware of the presence and companionship 
of the Friend in whom she had been trusting. 
She had long been receiving the blessings of 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST S7 

divine grace, but now for the first time she had 
a glimpse of him from whom the blessings had 
come. 

No doubt there are many young Christians 
who are living just as this young woman had 
lived — receiving into their heart the comforts 
of Christ's grace without fully enjoying the 
blessings of personal friendship with him. They 
know Christ as a historical personage, being 
familiar with the facts of his story as told in 
the Gospels. They trust him as their Saviour. 
They accept the mercy which comes through 
his sacrifice, having in their heart the peace 
of forgiveness. They rest on his promises, and 
draw grace from his fulness. But they do not 
know the living, personal Christ. Not only is 
he to them unseen ; he is also unrecognized. 

No one can estimate the measure of comfort 
and blessedness which one misses who remains 
thus unaware of the presence and companion- 
ship of the living Christ. He misses all that 
personal friendship with Christ means, and no 
words can describe the richness and power of 
this friendship. 

Indeed, many Christians seem never to get 
any farther than the cross in their knowledge 
of Christ. They believe that he loved them 
and gave himself for them. They believe that 



58 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



their hope of salvation comes from the atone- 
ment. They believe the historical fact of the 
resurrection, when Christ conquered death. 
They speak of him as now in heaven making 
intercession for them. They get a measure of 
comfort for the future, for themselves and for 
their loved ones who die in Christian faith, 
from the fact of Christ's victory over death. 
But they miss the meaning of his promise, 
" Lo, I am with you all the days." 

Really, however, we are saved, not alone by 
the death of Christ for us, but by Christ him- 
self with us and in us. It is into fellowship 
with the living Redeemer that faith brings us. 
It is believing in a person that saves us. Christ 
and we become friends. Wc walk together. 
He shares all our toil, care, burden-bearing, 
struggle, weakness, and sorrow, imparting to us 
his grace, strength, help, and all the inspirations 
of his love. " Henceforth I call you — friends," 
is his own word. 

We may go still farther ; for not only is Christ 
with us — he is also in us. One of the strik- 
ing words of St. Paul in his Epistle to the 
Galatians is, " It pleased God ... to reveal 
his Son in me." There is a difference between 
revealing the Son to a man as a friend standing 
beside him, and revealing the Son in a man, 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST 59 



dwelling in his own heart, possessing, absorbing, 
and inspiring his very life. 

Rev. F. B. Meyer in one of his sermons 
quotes this word of St. Paul's, and then says 
that many Christians fail to get this revelation 
of Jesus Christ in them, and that many do not 
for years after conversion come to this experi- 
ence. He gives this illustration: A boy left 
his home and was gone a great while, nothing 
ever being heard from him. His widowed 
mother, in her struggles with sorrow and pov- 
erty, never ceased to pray for her boy; but 
years and years passed and he came not again. 
One day there was a knock at the door ; and, 
when the woman answered it, a young man stood 
there. She did not know him. He asked if 
he could get lodging in her house. She said 
she had a room that she could give him. Then 
he asked if he could have boarding with her. 
To this also she replied affirmatively. He re- 
mained with her for several weeks, coming and 
going. One day, at the table, some turn of his 
hand showed to the mother a mark which at 
once revealed her own boy to her. " O Tom ! " 
she exclaimed, with loving eagerness. "It's 
my own boy." God revealed her son to her, 
in her home. 

So it is that Christ lives in the heart of many 



60 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



believers for years and years, inspiring in them 
good and beautiful things, blessing their life, 
granting them favors and mercies, yet all the 
time unrecognized by them. Then at length 
there comes to them an experience of revealing. 
It may be in time of sorrow, or in the shadows 
of a sick-room; or it may be in a sweet human 
friendship, or in a sermon, or in a verse of 
Scripture. In some way at least God reveals 
his Son to them ; and in the midst of the love 
that flows about them they see the face of the 
Beloved, from whom for so long they have been 
receiving blessings, but whom till this moment 
they have not known. 

It is the privilege of every Christian to have 
Christ, not only as a friend, walking by his side 
in close and daily companionship, but also liv- 
ing in his heart, with all the warmth and in- 
spiration of divine love and grace. We miss 
infinite comfort and joy by not recognizing this 
unseen Friend. There would seem to be no 
reason why any one should fail to recognize 
him. The promise is plain and sure that every 
one who believes has not only the constant 
companionship of Christ, but also Christ living 
in him. 

Young Christians will find a wondrous new 
blessing in getting personally acquainted with 



GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH CHRIST 6l 

Christ, and in taking him as their intimate, 
confidential Friend. It will change all life for 
them to have the .assurance and the conscious- 
ness of this blessed friendship. It will make 
all burdens lighter, and all tasks easier, and 
sorrow less bitter. It will put a new meaning 
into all duty. It will fill the heart full of joy. 
Yet that is what it is to be a Christian, — hav- 
ing Christ for our Friend. No other friend 
should be so near and so real to us as Jesus 
Christ. 



CHAPTER IX. 



ABOUT CONSECRATION. 

No word is more frequently used by young 
people in these days than the word consecra- 
tion. Indeed, it is used so frequently, and falls 
from the lips so glibly, that there is danger of 
its true meaning not being always appreciated. 
Precisely what do young Christians mean — or 
older ones — when they talk about consecra- 
tion ? What effect has their act of consecration 
upon their life ? 

Consecration is personal devotement to God. 
By this act we profess to set ourselves apart 
for God and for God's service. We confess 
that we belong to Christ because he has bought 
us with a price ; and we say that we recognize 
his ownership, and lay ourselves upon the altar 
for his use. If our act be sincere, we will re- 
gard all our life as belonging to him. Our 
hands are his, to be used in doing his work ; 
and they must be kept clean for him, and do 
only worthy things. Our lips are his, to speak 
only for him, and words only that will please 

62 



ABOUT CONSECRATION. 



63 



him. Our heart is his, to cherish only the af- 
fections, feelings, and motives which are con- 
sistent with his Spirit and his will. Our feet 
are his, to walk with God, and to run on his er- 
rands. Our money is his, to be used by us for 
him. Our whole life is his ; we are not our 
own, and we are to live for the honoring and 
glorifying of Christ's name. 

But precisely what does all this mean ? The 
difficulty lies in bringing down this lofty ideal 
consecration from its spiritual and ethereal 
heights, and interpreting it into the common life 
of our common days. We do not live among 
the stars ; we live yet on the earth. We have 
to do with earthly things. The greater portion 
of our time is taken up with what we call secu- 
lar work and duties. We must live in human 
relations, in our home, in society, mingling with 
people in business, in school, in amusements. 
How shall we carry out the principles of our 
consecration in this earthly life ? 

For one thing, we must live out the teachings 
of Christ in all that we do, in our daily life in 
the world, as well as in our relations with God. 
If young people are at school, they must be 
diligent in their studies, and kindly and unself- 
ish in all their relations with schoolmates and 
teachers. That is, they must be Christians at 



64 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



school. In home life they must manifest, in all 
their relations with the members of their house- 
hold, the affections and dispositions which are 
inspired by Christ. They must be thoughtful, 
kindly, patient, unselfish, not easily provoked, 
thinking no evil, ready in all ways and at all 
times to serve. If they are employed in any 
business or calling, they must do the duties 
which are assigned to them with faithfulness 
and with alacrity, never taking advantage of 
kindness to shirk work, always honest and 
truthful, always patient and courteous. In 
their social relations they must maintain the 
principles of Christianity, never forgetting, 
when they meet worldly or wicked people, that 
they belong to Christ, and are to be worthy of 
him. 

This does not mean that they should be talk, 
ing all the time about religion — there is a time 
to speak out boldly for Christ, and there is a 
time when silence, even concerning religious 
matters, is better than speech. But it means 
that they are never to do anything inconsistent 
with the Christian life, anything that would 
bring reproach upon the name of Christ. 

A little girl, applying for membership in a 
church, when asked by the pastor what she 
thought it would be for her to be a Christian, 



ABOUT COXSECRATIOX. 



65 



replied : "I suppose it will be to do what Jesus 
would do, and to behave as Jesus would behave, 
if he were a little girl and lived at our house. " 
There could be no better definition of a conse- 
crated life. We are always to ask, " What 
would Jesus do ? " and then try to do the same. 
A Christian is always a Christian, wherever 
he may go. He is never off duty. He always 
represents Christ. He must always strive to 
be what Jesus would be, and to do what Jesus 
would do in his place. 

One of the most common weaknesses of 
much of our consecration is the effort to grasp 
the thought in too large a way, to make the 
consecration once for all, rather than in detail. 
For example, each morning, as we begin the 
day, we may give ourselves to our Master just 
for the one little day. We may ask him to 
take us and keep us and use us. 

We then take up our allotment of tasks for 
the day, feeling that it is Christ's work we are 
doing, and therefore that it is holy. It is just 
as much a part of our Christian duty to learn a 
lesson in school, to sell goods in the store, to 
perform a duty in the office, to plough in the 
field, to sweep a room, or to cook a meal, as it 
was in the early morning to go apart for prayer 
and Bible-reading. We are to regard all the 



66 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

tasks and duties of the day as holy, and as part 
of our consecrated life. 

If, then, in the providence of God, there 
break into our plan for the day interruptions, 
— human needs, for example, which require 
sympathy, thought, time, or money, — we are to 
regard these as fragments of service sent to us 
from God. They are bits of God's will break- 
ing into our human plan ; and we are to regard 
them as sacred, and do them cheerfully, even if 
they take our time and cost us trouble. 

Living thus, holding our whole life to be 
used by the Master as he would use it, diligent 
in our business, losing no moment of time, we 
are to fill our day with tasks and duties well 
and faithfully done. This is consecration. No 
other kind of living is worthy of the name. We 
cannot be always at prayer, or always reading 
our Bible ; and it is a mistake to think that con- 
secration has to do only with these spiritual 
acts and exercises. It has to do quite as much 
with the secularities of life, although, indeed, 
this spirit makes all our duties holy. 

Even our amusements and our pleasures are to 
be considered part of our life of consecration. 
Therefore, nothing must be entered into which 
would dishonor Christ. We should go to no 
place which we would not be willing to have 



ABOUT CONSECRATION. 67 



Christ see us entering. We should engage in 
nothing which would make us ashamed if his 
face were to appear in the doorway. 

There is a too common impression that noth- 
ing is religious save what is essentially reli- 
gious in its form. Thus many people fail to 
carry their consecration outside the church and 
the prayer-meeting. They are very devout in 
their feeling and manner while a service lasts, 
but fail to live devoutly when the service is 
over, and they are mingling again with their 
fellows. We should remember that consecra- 
tion is not a matter of feeling, but of disposi- 
tion, of conduct, of character, of words and 
deeds. If, therefore, it is something only for a 
holy place, or for a sacred service, which fades 
from our face and life when we go out, it is 
not genuine. Consecration is not a frame ; it 
is a life. 

It is never encouraging to see people put on 
an unusual solemnity of manner in an effort 
to be consecrated Christians. There are some 
good young men and women who seem to think 
that consecration should make them grave and 
serious. They talk in solemn, unnatural tones. 
They are oppressed with a kind of spiritual 
self-consciousness which makes them anything 
but lovely or lovable Christians in the eyes of 



68 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



other people. They may be thoroughly sincere ; 
but their assumption of sanctity, as it appears 
in their bearing, makes them very imperfect 
representatives of Christ. It even leads some 
persons to suspect the genuineness of their re- 
ligion. 

Thus, instead of honoring Christ by a good- 
ness which is beautiful as well as true, they hurt 
their influence as Christians. Religion should 
be natural; anything that is unnatural is in 
so far un-Christlike. " Whatsoever things are 
lovely" is one of St. Paul's phrases describing 
the ideal Christian life. Sanctimoniousness is 
very unlovely. Persons who put on holy airs, 
fancying that thus they are proving themselves 
consecrated, are only showing their religious 
self-conceit. Simplicity is a mark of all beau- 
tiful Christian life. Moses was not aware of 
the shining of his face. The truest, divinest 
goodness is never conscious of itself. 

True consecration does not require that a 
child's religion shall be that of the full-grown 
man or woman. One of the dangers of a young 
Christian's life is in this direction. He is apt 
to take his ideal from older Christians, and to 
imitate them. We know what happens if we try 
to open a rosebud and hasten its unfolding; 
we only spoil the bud, and hinder it from ever 



ABOUT CONSECRATION. 69 



becoming a lovely rose. It is the same when 
a young Christian tries to be a grown-up Chris- 
tian. The charm of the young Christian char- 
acter is spoiled, and the life is so hurt that it 
will never be what it might have been if it had 
been left to develop naturally. 

Consecration in young Christians, therefore, 
means the beautifying, enriching, and sanctify- 
ing of their youth. Jesus himself waited thirty 
years in quiet before he entered upon his 
public ministry. His consecration led him to 
obey his parents, to help in the carpenter shop, 
and to do the common duties that came to his 
hands. There can be no higher example for any 
young Christians. They are to do the duties 
that belong to their age, thus preparing them- 
selves for the more serious responsibilities and 
tasks of maturer years. 



CHAPTER X. 



ABOUT PRAYER. 

Almost every one prays. At least almost 
every one is taught in childhood to kneel before 
God, and with the first lispings of speech to say, 
"Our Father.'' And all Christians maintain 
the habit of prayer with more or less faith- 
fulness. 

What is prayer ? It is not merely making 
requests of God. This is part of it ; we are to 
make known our requests to him. We are to 
bring to him all our needs, small and large ; 
and we are assured that, while nothing is too 
great to lay upon God, nothing is too small 
to trouble him with. The God who cares for 
the birds, feeds the quarrelsome sparrows, and 
clothes the lilies of the field, cares much more 
for his children, supplying their wants. In our 
prayers we are to make requests to God for the 
things we need. 

But prayer is more than this. It includes 
confession of sins. We all sin against God, and 
we need every day to ask him for forgiveness. 

70 



ABOUT PRAYER. 



71 



Then part of all true prayer is thanksgiving — 
remembering our blessings, other answered 
prayers. Prayer includes also communion with 
God. Our relation to him is that of a child to 
a father. Surely that child would be wanting 
in filial affection who would never care to talk 
to a father, save when it had some request to 
make of him, some favor to ask. A large part 
of loving intercourse between child and father 
is fellowship, conversation about things in which 
both are interested. So the Christian who cares 
to pray only when he has some request to make 
is lacking in the truly filial spirit. 

" It is not prayer, 
This clamor of our eager wants 

That fills the air 
With wearying, selfish plaints. 

It is true prayer, 
To seek the Giver more than gifts ; 

God's life to share 
And love — for this our cry to lift." 

Many times, when we come to God in prayer, 
we have no favor to ask, but merely desire to 
be with him, to commune with him, to keep 
ourselves in his love, to tell him of our love, to 
talk to him of our plans, and to receive into 
our heart the blessings which he has to give. 



72 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



Are prayers answered ? Does God in heaven 
hear his children when they kneel on earth and 
speak to him ? The Bible assures us that God 
is the hearer and the answerer of prayer. This 
does not mean that everything we ask for in 
prayer is given to us. Ofttimes the things we 
desire would not be the best things for us. 
Our judgment is imperfect, our vision is short- 
sighted, and we cannot tell whether the things 
we wish for would be good for us or not. All 
true praying requires the final submission of 
every request to the will and the wisdom of 
God. We are to trust him more than we trust 
ourselves. If he sees fit to deny us the things 
we ask, we should be sure that his way is better 
than ours. 

It is very important that young people get 
into their heart, at the beginning of their Chris- 
tian life, this confidence in God. Many per- 
sons have lost their faith because their prayers 
have not been answered. They had misread 
the promises, supposing that anything they 
would ask would be given to them. They then 
made requests which were not granted. In 
their disappointment they lost their faith, and 
passed into the darkness Oi" doubt and unbe- 
lief. If we understand that every desire we 
bring we are to submit to God's wisdom, how- 



ABOUT PRAYER. 



73 



ever intense it may be, abiding by his decision 
without murmuring, without fear, we shall never 
find ourselves in perplexity because of what 
seems to us to be God's failure to answer our 
prayers. 

" I sometimes think God's tender heart must ache, 
Listening to all the sad, complaining cries 
That from our weak, impatient souls arise, 
Because we do not see that for our sake 
He answers not, or answers otherwise 
Than seems the best to our tear-blinded eyes." 

When God does not give us the things we 
definitely ask for, it is because he desires to 
give us something better instead. St. Paul 
asked for the removal of his " thorn in the 
flesh," some sore bodily trouble. He asked 
earnestly, three times beseeching the Lord to 
grant his request. The request was not granted ; 
but instead there came the promise of sufficient 
grace — more grace because of the burden of 
pain and suffering which he was still to keep. 
Then he rejoiced in his infirmities, because 
through them he received more of the strength 
of Christ. Jesus himself, in the garden, 
prayed that the cup might pass from him. It 
did not pass ; but instead, divine grace was 
given, and he was enabled to accept it without 



74 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



murmuring. His prayer was answered, not by 
the removal of the cup, but by the strengthen- 
ing of his own heart, so that he could drink it 
with quiet submission. 

The lesson is very clear. When God docs 
not give us the things we plead for, he will 
give us grace to do without them, and if we ac- 
cept his decision sweetly and trustingly, will 
enable us to go on rejoicing. Surely it is a 
better answer to give us strength to continue 
bearing our load than it would have been to 
take it away, leaving us unstrengthencd. 

What may we bring to God in prayer? We 
ought to bring everything, not only our spirit- 
ual needs, and our sorrows and perplexities, 
but our business affairs, our friendships, our 
frets and worries — all our life. Christ wants 
us to be his close personal friends. He desires 
to enter into the most intimate relations with 
each of us. He wants our confidence at every 
point. He is interested in everything we do — 
in our daily work, in our plans and efforts, in 
the children's play, in the young people's prob- 
lems, pleasures, and studies. We should train 
ourselves to talk to Christ of everything we are 
doing. Anything we do not want to talk to 
him about we would better not do. It is a sad 
day for a boy when he has done something 



ABOUT PRAYER. 



75 



which he wants to hide from his mother. It is 
a sad day for any of us when we have done 
anything we are not willing to talk to Christ 
about. We would better ask his counsel con- 
cerning everything we are considering. Cole- 
ridge well exhorts : — 

If for any wish thou darest not pray, 
Then pray to God to cast that wish away. 

When should we pray? Part of the pledge 
which young people all over the world are 
making these days is that they will pray every 
day. We should pray at least twice every day. 
We should begin the morning at Christ's feet, 
seeking blessing from him, asking for guid- 
ance, putting our hand in his, intrusting our 
life to his keeping. Then when we come to 
the close of the day, there should be prayer 
again, the bringing of the day's work to God, 
the confessing of its faults, sins, and mistakes, 
the laying at our Master's feet of all the work 
we have done, and the committing of ourselves 
to his keeping for the night. 

But besides these formal seasons of prayer, 
morning and evening, every Christian should 
be always in the spirit of prayer. We walk 
with God in our every-day life. Christ is just 
as close to us when we are at our daily work 



y6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

in the field, in the shop, in the store, or when 
we are sitting at our desk in school, or are out 
on the playground, as he is when we are kneel- 
ing at his feet in a formal act of prayer. Any- 
where and at any time we may whisper a request, 
or speak a word of love in his ear, and he will 
hear us. 

That is what St. Paul means by his exhorta- 
tion that we be " instant in prayer." He would 
have us stay all the time so close to Christ that 
any moment a word may be exchanged with 
him — that we may speak to him or he to us. 
In time of temptation, when the pressure is 
sore, almost more than we are able to endure, 
it is a great privilege to say, "Jesus, help me." 
In some moment of perplexity as to duty, we 
may ask our Guide to show us what he would 
have us to do, and he will do it. If we are in 
danger we may run into the refuge of prayer, 
hiding ourselves close to Christ, as a frightened 
bird flies to its nest, or as an alarmed child 
runs to the mother. 

Those who learn to pray in this way, com- 
muning with Christ continually, are sure of rich 
blessing in their life. Prayer makes us stronger. 
It brings the divine life down into our heart. 
It shelters us amid temptation. It keeps us near 
the heart of Christ in time of sorrow or danger. 



ABOUT PRAYER. 



77 



It transforms us into the beauty of the Master. 
Prayer brings heaven down close about us, into 
our heart. Prayer keeps us close to Christ ; 
one who prays daily, and continues instant in 
prayer, will never drift far from him. It is 
when we begin to omit prayer that we begin 
to leave Christ. 

In these wise modern days many sceptical 
questions are asked concerning prayer, but a 
simple faith answers them all. If God is our 
Father, he surely knows his children and loves 
them. If this be true, there can be no doubt 
that he is interested in their life in this world, 
and is willing to communicate with them — to 
speak to them, and to hear them when they 
speak to him. There need, then, be no mystery 
about prayer ; it is only one of the privileges 
of the children of God. 



CHAPTER XI. 



THE BIBLE IN THE CLOSET. 

We are continually reminded of the neces- 
sity for secret prayer. We are taught that we 
should both begin and end each busy day at 
the Master's feet. This is all very well. Not 
a word too much can be said on the importance 
of prayer. We cannot live a spiritual life at 
all unless we draw the inspiration down from 
heaven. In our life in this world of evil and 
struggle, we are like divers working on board 
a sunken ship beneath the waves of the sea j 
we can maintain our life and continue our work 
only by keeping unbroken communication with 
heaven, and by breathing heaven's air. 

But it is a mistake to suppose that prayer 
alone is sufficient to nourish our spiritual life. 
It is just as needful to have God talk to us as 
it is for us to talk to him. Yet we are not 
exhorted in books and sermons half so fre- 
quently or half so earnestly to read our Bible, 
as part of our daily spiritual feeding, as we are 
to pray. 

78 



THE BIBLE IN THE CLOSET 79 

There are many people who rarely carry the 
Bible with them into their closet. They drop 
on their knees for a few hurried moments in 
the morning, and implore God's blessing on 
them for the day; and then they are up and 
away, carrying no word of God in their heart 
as they enter the day's strifes and toils. Really 
they have had only half a meal, and are not 
prepared as they might have been for duty. 
They should have eaten some of the words of 
God, and then they would have been truly 
invigorated and made strong for their day's 
pilgrimage. 

In all ordinary cases God gives spiritual help 
through his word. He does not now talk to 
men as he talked to Moses on the mount; if 
we would hear what he has to say to us, we 
must open his word, and read its pages for our- 
selves with listening ear. He really has some- 
thing to say to us every time we enter our 
closet. Perhaps the day is dark before us, and 
we are going out not knowing which way to 
turn. We cry for light. What lamp will God 
put into our hands, unless it be a precept or 
a promise ? Yet we shall not carry any light 
with us out of our closet if we only pray, and 
do not open our Bible. The old psalm-writer 
did not say, " Prayer is a lamp unto my feet, 



8o YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



and a light unto my path.' 7 It is the word 
of God which is to shed this brightening on 
our way. 

Or we may be in sorrow, and in our quest for 
consolation we turn away from unsatisfying 
human words and empty earthly comforts to 
the closet of prayer. We ask God to comfort 
us. Now it is very sweet sometimes, when the 
sorrow is bitter and the darkness intense, just 
to lay our head on our Master's bosom in si- 
lence, saying nothing at all, not even praying 
in words. There is comfort in simply resting 
within the embrace of the everlasting arms. 
But, if we would get real, positive comfort from 
God, it must come from his word. To leave 
the Bible closed while we cry to heaven for 
comforting, is really to shut our ears to the 
angel of consolation whom we have asked God 
to send to us. 

In all phases of experience the same is true. 
Prayer alone does not fit us for living sweetly 
and victoriously. We need the words of God, 
that we may use them along our way. We 
have an illustration of this in our Lord's own 
experience. When he was tempted of the devil, 
he answered every assault of the adversary with 
a word of Scripture. He did not rely on 
prayer alone, but in each case drew out an 



THE BIBLE IN THE CLOSET. 8 1 

arrow from his well-filled quiver, and shot it 
at the enemy. It will be noticed, too, that he 
did not take out his Bible then and there, on 
the field, and look up a text to suit his need; 
he was so familiar with the words of his Father 
that he had but to recall from memory the par- 
ticular one he required that moment. This 
shows us that Jesus had been in the habit of 
using the Bible in his closet all his early years. 
In the sudden temptations which come to each 
of us every day, we need the same equipment. 
We should carry with us always a quiver full 
of arrows from which we may draw at an in- 
stant's notice. If our closet devotion consists 
of prayer only, we shall find ourselves defence- 
less many a time in the place of danger. 

There is another phase of Christian life in 
which the same necessity is apparent. A great 
artist, when asked how he could paint such 
marvellous pictures, replied, " I dream dreams, 
and I see visions; and then I paint my dreams 
and my visions. " In our seasons of retirement 
with Christ we should catch glimpses of heav- 
enly beauty, which we may then work out in act 
and character as we live among our fellows; 
we should dream dreams and see visions in the 
closet, which we may paint on the canvas of 
actual life, that others may behold them. It 



82 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



is only in the words of God that we can see 
these visions of heavenly beauty. 

These inspired words show us God's thoughts 
and God's will, what he wants us to do, what 
we are to be in the life that is complete and 
full. We need, then, to look at these divine 
words in our silent times, to ponder them till 
they open and disclose the fragment of beauty 
that is in them ; and then we can come out and 
reproduce the beauty in our own life. If we 
study the Scriptures when alone with God in 
the holy mount, God will show us in them the 
patterns of character, disposition, and duty, 
which he wants us to work out for his glory in 
our daily common life. The Bible shows us 
what we ought to be and to do; prayer brings 
down grace and strength to enable us to be obe- 
dient to these heavenly visions. 

So we need always to take the Bible with us 
into the closet. Prayer alone is but half of 
true soul-feeding. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE MATTER OF CONVERSATION. 

Most young people can talk. They begin it 
quite early. One of the first things a baby does 
is to learn a language, meanwhile acquiring the 
use of its vocal organs. From that time, until 
the voice is silenced in death, the talking goes 
on. Some people even talk in their sleep, so 
strong is the force of habit upon them. 

If every word that is spoken were only a good 
word, what an incalculable ministry of blessing 
would there be in a lifetime of speech ! But 
too much of it is only idle words, and too much 
of it is not pure, good, and sweet. The sub- 
ject is worthy of very earnest, serious thought. 
We should not be willing to misuse our gift 
of speech, or to fail to use it to bless the 
world. 

" Plant blessings, and blessings will bloom, 
Plant hate, and hate will grow; 
You can sow to-day, and to-morrow shall bring 
The bloom that shows what sort of a thing 
Is the seed — the seed that you sow." 

83 



84 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



There should be great care taken, first of all, 
with the manner of speech. Many persons 
speak most important words, words full of wis- 
dom, and yet utter them in such a way that 
they make almost no impression. Their voice 
is harsh and unmusical, or their grammar or 
pronunciation is defective, or they speak indis- 
tinctly. In some way, at least, the faultiness 
or ungracefulness of their speech mars, some- 
times almost destroys, the value of what they 
say. On the other hand, there are some persons 
whose manner of speech is so graceful and 
winning that even their most commonplace 
words fall like music on the listener's ear. 
Young people cannot give too much attention 
to voice-culture, and to the whole matter of 
expression. Manner is more than one-half in 
speech. 

Matter is also important, however. We must 
have something to say, or the most musical 
tones will soon fail to please and bless. Jesus 
said that out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh. Hence we must get our 
heart right if we would speak words that are 
worth while. A bitter heart cannot give out 
sweet words, nor an impure heart bright, clean 
words. 

It is an interesting fact that on the Day of 



THE MATTER OF CONVERSATION. 85 

Pentecost the Holy Spirit came in the form of 
tongues of fire, resting on the heads of the 
disciples, and that one of the first manifes- 
tations of the Spirit was in a new gift of speech 
— immediately they spoke with new tongues. 
This was all supernatural ; but it is true ever- 
more that, when one becomes a Christian, one 
gets a new tongue. 

We can gather from the Bible many counsels 
about speech. Jesus spoke of idle words, say- 
ing that even for these we must give account. 
Idle words are those that are empty — empty 
of love and of good, words of no value. There 
are many such words spoken. They may appear 
harmless; and yet they are useless, and use- 
lessness always disappoints the Master. They 
give no comfort, they put no cheer into any 
heart, they inspire nothing beautiful in any 
soul. Too much of the common conversation 
of the parlor, of the wayside, of the table, is 
of this vapid and empty order, — talk about 
merest nothings, inane, without thought, with- 
out sense, without meaning. How it must 
astonish the angels to hear immortal beings 
use their marvellous gift of speech in such a 
trivial, idle way ! 

We have suggestions also in the New Testa- 
ment as to the kind of speech that is worthy of 



86 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



a redeemed life. St. Paul has some very plain 
words on the subject. Conversation should be 
"good, to the use of edifying." That is, no 
word should be spoken which does not help to 
build up character and to make those who hear 
it better, which does not inspire some good 
thought, some holy feeling, some kindly act, or 
put some touch of beauty upon the life. A 
Christian's words should also " minister grace 
unto the hearer." That is, they should impart 
blessing in some way. We all know persons 
whose words have this quality. They are not 
always exhorting, preaching, talking religiously ; 
and yet we never speak with them five minutes 
without being the better for it. Their simplest 
words do us good. They give cheer, courage, 
and hope. We feel braver and stronger after a 
little conversation with them, even after a mo- 
ment's greeting on the street. 

In another place St. Paul says, "Let your 
speech be always with grace, seasoned with 
salt." This means graceful speech, not merely 
as to its manner, but also as to its quality. 
It must be speech such as Christ himself would 
use if he were in our place, and we know that 
every word of his was a holy seed. Our speech 
should be seasoned with salt, that is, should be 
pure and clean. Salt preserves from decay and 



THE MATTER OF CONVERSATION. 87 

putridity. The Christian's speech should have 
in it the divine quality of holiness, and its ef- 
fect should be cleansing and purifying. Some 
one speaks of the words of Jesus himself as a 
handful of spices cast into this world's bitter 
waters to sweeten them. Every Christian's 
words should have like influence in society, 
wherever they are spoken. 

This does not imply that all a Christian's 
words must be devout words, such as would be 
spoken in a prayer-meeting or in a church ser- 
vice. Sometimes they may be full of humor; 
fun may be as religious in its place as prayer 
in its place. There is a time to laugh and to 
make others laugh. We must not suppose that 
all bright, merry words are wrong, that we are 
not pleasing our Master unless we are talking 
on some distinctively religious subject; we are 
to talk of many things that are not definitely 
connected with a religious life. We are to 
talk about business, about the happenings 
of the day, about the books we have been 
reading; at proper times we are to talk of 
things that amuse. Ofttimes the divinest ser- 
vice we can render to another is to make him 
laugh. 

Yet all the while our speech is to be with 
grace ; it is to be true, reverent, helpful, inspir- 



88 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ing. The seasoning is important; it is to be 
" seasoned with salt." Love is salt. Truth is 
salt. Our speech should be always kindly. It 
should be without bitterness, without malice, 
without unlovingness in any form. The season- 
ing should be salt; some people use pepper in- 
stead, and pepper is sharp, biting, pungent. 
Their speech is full of sarcasm, of censure, of 
bitterness, of words that hurt and burn. This 
is not Christlike speech. 

We learn most of our lessons at home. The 
household life leaves its stamp on the char- 
acter and the habits of each member of the 
family. We learn to talk at home. Defects of 
speech, mispronunciations, misuse of words, 
peculiarities of phrase, modes of expression, 
and all the vocal mannerisms of the common 
home conversation, reappear in the speech of 
the members of the family. 

It is very important, therefore, that in the 
daily life of the household the most careful 
watch shall be kept over all the habits of 
speech. The tones of the voice should be cul- 
tivated so that they shall be always pleasing. 
Attention should be given to pronunciatipn, 
that it shall always be correct. A good dic- 
tionary is important in every house. The spirit 
of the conversation should be guarded, that it 



THE MATTER OF CONVERSATION. 89 



be gentle, kindly, patient, and true. Bickering, 
strife, contention, and wrangling should have 
no place in the talk of the home. 

In too many families the household life is 
marred by harsh words, which are spoken too 
freely in the common intercourse. Sometimes 
it is a habit of contradicting and disputing, 
which has been allowed to grow until it has be- 
come inveterate. Usually the questions wran- 
gled over are of no importance whatever. One 
says it was two o'clock, and another says it was 
a quarter past two ; and they grow hot in con- 
tention over it. One says it was Wednesday, 
another claims that it was Thursday ; and the 
miserable strife spoils a meal for all that fam- 
ily. Some young people will never answer a 
question asked at home, but in a gruff, dis- 
courteous way, as if the asking for information 
were an impertinence. There are families in 
which gentle and kindly speech is the excep- 
tion ; the staple talk is ill-tempered, dictato- 
rial, or unloving. 

There is a great deal of hasty speech in some 
homes. We hurt most our dearest ones by our 
hot words. Outside we dare not speak petu- 
lantly and angrily, for our neighbors would re- 
sent such language ; but in the inner circle of 
love we remove the restraint, and our words too 



90 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



often cut deep into tender hearts. We should 
remember that, though love forgives hasty 
speech, the wounds remain. We should always 
hold back the word of anger.\ 

Such home habits in conversation do not 
prepare one for genial and helpful intercourse 
with others when one goes out into the world. 
The loved ones of our own family are very 
patient with us in our unlovableness ; but other 
people will not brook our rude manners, our 
discourteous retorts, our gruff talk. If the 
young people would be ready for living in 
friendly relations with those they meet outside, 
they must learn to control their speech in the 
freedom of their own home, and must train 
themselves there into whatsoever things are 
lovely both in manner and matter of conversa- 
tion. 

Too much stress cannot be put upon this 
subject. Speech is golden in its opportunities ; 
it is a pity that a grain of the precious gold 
should ever be thrown away. Most of us talk 
too much. Silence is better far than idle, sin- 
ful, or foolish speech. Yet there may be idle 
silence too ; our gift of speech was given to us 
to be used, but it must be used with wisdom. 
We should never be content to talk even five 
minutes with another, without saying at least 



THE MATTER OF CONVERSATION. 9 1 



a word or two that may do good, that may give 
a helpful impulse or kindle an upward aspira- 
tion. Even in tne lightest, most playful con- 
versation, there may be an opportunity before 
closing, to drop a serious word that may be 
remembered. 

"Yea, find thou always time to say some earnest word 
Between the idle talk, lest with thee henceforth, 
Night and day, regret shall walk." 



CHAPTER XIII. 



ON KEEPING QUIET. 

Talking is good if it be good talking. Very 
wonderful is the gift of speech, and the power 
of good words to do good is simply incalcu- 
lable. But not all talking is good ; there are 
words that are firebrands or daggers. We are 
responsible, too, for using our tongue. An old 
proverb tells us that, while speech is silvern, 
silence is golden. Of course the saying says 
too much. There are times when silence is 
not golden, is in fact only base alloy, and when 
duty can be done only by speaking. We have 
no right to keep our gentle thoughts and feel- 
ings in our heart unexpressed when loved ones 
are starving for words of affection. We dare 
not close our lips on an unspoken message from 
God, or a word of witnessing for God. 

Nevertheless, it is ofttimes our duty to be si- 
lent. There are times w r hen silence is indeed 
golden, and when speech is only silvern, or 
even poor dross. It is a good thing to know 
when to speak and when not to speak. Some 
92 



ON KEEPING QUIET. 



93 



persons talk altogether too much. They chat- 
ter on forever. Nothing ever awes them into 
silence. 

One tells of standing before a great picture 
— a picture representing one of the most tender 
and sacred scenes in the life of Christ. There 
was everything in the occasion to produce rev- 
erence, almost awe. The little group that stood 
before the picture with uncovered heads were 
deeply impressed, and spoke, if at all, only to 
give expression in whispered words to the emo- 
tion which possessed them. But in the midst 
of this worshipful hush there came in another 
group of visitors. The picture had no subdu- 
ing effect upon them. They talked on in care- 
less mood, speaking of the mere accessories of 
the great work of art, evidently without any 
perception of the real meaning of the painting, 
or of any of the scenes which it portrayed. 

This was an occasion when speech was not 
only impertinent, trivial, and out of place, but 
was also irreverent, undevout, and when silence 
was the only fitting expression of the thoughtful 
heart. 

We may learn much from our Master's ex- 
ample about the duty of silence. No other man 
ever spoke as he did, such marvellous words, 
such words of power ; but in the Gospel story 



94 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



the silences of Jesus are quite as wonderful as 
his words. There were thirty silent years at 
the beginning, out of which only one single 
sentence is preserved to us. The silence of 
those years is wonderfully impressive. 

We urge young Christian people in these days 
to be always talking, telling their experiences, 
witnessing to their love for Christ; we insist 
that they shall let no meeting pass without "a 
little word for Jesus." But Jesus himself, with 
a heart full of love for God and a mind teeming 
with holy thoughts which he was eager to ex- 
press, waited thirty years in silence before he 
began to speak. Perhaps we talk too much 
about our religion. Perhaps it were better if 
we waited longer and mused in silence, while 
the fire burns, until we can speak more wisely 
and with more power. Then what we say would 
be something worth while. 

There were times, too, when Jesus was silent 
in the presence of human need and distress. 
It seems strange to us, as we read the records, 
that he did not speak when words would have 
given such comfort and relief. But no doubt 
silence was better then than speech, or he 
would have spoken. There are times when 
kindly words would better be restrained, when 
even love may be too tender. There are times 



ON KEEPING QUIET. 



95 



when we would do our friends harm if we were 
to lift away or even lighten their burden ; be- 
cause the blessing they need is in the burden, 
and to remove it would be to rob them of God's 
gift in it. 

Many people talk too much, too, when they 
find their friends in sorrow. They want to ex- 
press sympathy ; and they think they must go 
over all the details of the grief with them, and 
then must expound to them the comforts of the 
Bible. But there are few places where many 
words are more unfit than in the presence of 
grief. A warm pressure of the hand, a word or 
two of strong sympathy, and a quiet heart's 
prayer to God for help, will give the truest 
comfort. 

We get from our Master also the lesson of 
silence under injury or wrong. That is what 
meekness is — not answering back, not contend- 
ing for one's rights, not striving against injus- 
tice, not resisting insult, but quietly submitting 
and enduring. Over and over w r e see Jesus bear- 
ing reproaches and injuries in sweet silence. 
He kept silent about Judas while the treason 
was ripening. He was silent on his trial, re- 
viled but not reviling again. On his cross he 
spoke no word of bitterness or of complaint. 
While the nails were being driven into his hands 



g6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

and feet his only word was a prayer for those 
who were causing him such anguish. 

It is hard to keep quiet when others say bit- 
ter or false things to us, or when we are suffer- 
ing wrongfully. But silence is always better 
than words in such experiences. If we speak 
at all, when smarting under a sense of personal 
injury, we are almost sure to say words we 
would better not have said. Anger is a kind 
of insanity. A furious man is a madman in 
two senses. We pity the dumb, but dumbness 
is safer and better than ungoverned speech 
which works havoc all about. 

" I hastily opened my lips 

And uttered a word of disdain 
That wounded a friend and forever estranged 
A heart I would die to regain." 

One of the sad things about ill-timed words 
is that they cannot be recalled. Rose Terry 
Cooke, in a little poem called, " Unreturning," 
presents this truth in a very striking way. 
Flowers fade, but there will be more blossoms. 
Snow melts, but it will snow again. You may 
weep over the unkind thing you said which so 
stung your friend's heart, and your friend may 
never speak of it to you, nor show in any way 



ON KEEPING QUIET. 



97 



that he even remembers it, but the word itself 
never can be recalled. Then she continues : — 

Never shall thy spoken word 

Be again unsaid, unheard. 

Well its work the utterance wrought, 

Woe or weal — whate'er it brought; 

Once for all the rune is read, 
Once for all the judgment said. 
Though it pierced, a poisoned spear, 
Through the soul thou holdest dear ; 
Though it quiver, fierce and deep, 
Through some stainless spirit's sleep ; 
Idle, vain, the flying sting 
That a passing rage might bring, 
Speech shall give it fangs of steel, 
Utterance all its barb reveal. 

Give thy tears of blood and fire, 
Pray with pangs of mad desire, 
Offer life, and soul, and all, 
That one sentence to recall ; 
Wrestle with its fatal wrath, 
Chase with flying feet its path; — 
Once for all thy word is sped ; 
None evade it but the dead. 
All thy travail will be vain-: 
Spoken words come not again. 

Surely it is " a time to keep silence " when 
we are under the pressure of any sense of wrong 



98 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

or injustice, for if we speak then our words will 
have a sting in them, and an hour later we 
shall be sure to regret that we spoke at all. 
The Bible has much to say about keeping quiet, 
but how may we learn the lesson? Tongue- 
mastery is not easy. We are assured that even 
wild beasts are more easily tamed than the 
human tongue. Yet the tongue is not utterly 
untamable. The lesson of keeping silence can 
be learned; and we should never be content 
until we have learned to be quiet, not speak- 
ing, even under the keenest provocation. How 
can we learn the lesson ? Self-discipline is im- 
portant. We must watch ourselves. We must 
get the mastery over our own life. We must 
bring our tongue into subjection, so that it will 
speak or be silent as we bid it. 

But we need divine help. Christ overcame 
the world, and he is able to overcome every 
power of evil. There is a secret of Christian 
faith by which we may put our whole life into 
Christ's keeping. If we would only wait for 
him to speak in our words, we should often be 
silent w r here now we chatter endlessly. 

There is a picture of Augustine and his 
mother looking up toward heaven in reverent 
awe. " Oh, that God would speak to us ! " he 
is saying. " Perhaps he is," the mother replies. 



ON KEEPING QUIET. 



99 



If we keep quiet and still, he will speak to 
us at the right time. Then, unless his voice 
of gentle stillness speak in us, we would better 
be silent. Divinely inspired silences are better 
far than any human words we could speak. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



LEARNING TO BE THOUGHTFUL. 

One of the finest things in a complete Chris- 
tian character is thoughtfulness. It gives a 
wondrous charm to a life. It makes one a ben- 
ediction wherever he goes. It tempers all his 
conduct, softening all natural harshness into 
gentleness, and giving to his every word and act, 
and to all his bearing, a spirit of kindliness. 

A thoughtful person does not have to be 
asked to help others — he helps, as it were, 
instinctively. He is ever ready to do the obli- 
ging thing, to say the encouraging word, to show 
an interest in the life of others, to perform those 
countless little kindnesses which so brighten 
the common pathway. He does not make his 
life an offence to others, a constant irritating 
influence. He never meddles with other per- 
sons' affairs, but respects the individuality and 
the rights of every one. He curbs his curiosity, 
and does not pry into matters of which he has 
no right to know. He is most careful not to 
touch others at sensitive points. If any one 
ioo 



LEARNING TO BE THOUGHTFUL. IOI 

has a physical deformity or any feature which 
is marred, he is careful in conversation never 
to refer to it, and seems never to notice it, or 
to be conscious of it. 

Thoughtfulness reveals itself quite as much 
in what it does not do as in the things it does. 
Many people make their very goodness so obtru- 
sive as to do harm, and give pain to those they 
would help. They are too anxious to be help- 
ful. They intrude upon others, pressing their 
offers of kindness upon them in ways which 
become, if not offensive and impertinent, at 
least burdensome. When their friends are in 
sorrow, they are sincerely eager to give comfort ; 
but they fail to understand the sacredness of 
grief, or to respect the craving of sad hearts for 
quiet, and allow their eagerness to become in- 
trusiveness. There is no more delicate test of 
thoughtfulness than that which sorrow furnishes. 
Usually love's sweetest and best service then 
is rendered in the quietest expression of sym- 
pathy, certainly with no undue pressing of one's 
self into the presence of the friends who are 
in trouble, and with no over-eager offer to help. 
Then, unless from personal experience of grief 
one has been prepared for giving effective sym- 
pathy, one would better not seek to be a privi- 
leged comforter. 



102 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



Thoughtfulness has a wide field for its min- 
istry in the family circle and in the daily house- 
hold life. Perhaps few young people come by 
this grace naturally, are born with it. Usually 
it has to be learned. Most of us think first 
of ourselves and our own comfort and conven- 
ience, and are not apt to think how our words, 
acts, and dispositions will affect others. We 
say what at the moment we feel like saying, 
not stopping to ask whether it will give pleas- 
ure or pain to those who must hear it. We 
like to say, saying it too with some pride, that 
we are plain, frank people, honest and out- 
spoken, not indulging in courtly phrases, but 
sincere though brusque, not realizing that our 
brusqueness and plainness ofttimes hurt gentle 
hearts. We do the thing we feel inclined to 
do, because it pleases us, not remembering that 
true love seeks not its own, but thinks first of 
the comfort and pleasure of others. 

Without being aware of it, many of us are 
miserably selfish in our life among others. We 
practically forget that there are any other 
people, or that we ought to make any sacrifices, 
or practise any self-denials, for their sake. 
Young people at home, for example, will in- 
dulge themselves in sleep in the mornings, 
coming down late to breakfast, not thinking 



LEARNING TO BE THOUGHTFUL. IO3 

of the trouble they cause to those who have to 
do the work, nor how they interfere with the 
order of the household. Thoughtfulness seeks 
never to add to another's burdens, never to 
make extra work or care, but always to lighten 
loads. 

; In much home conversation, too, there is a 
lack of thoughtfulness shown. Not always is 
the speech gentle — sometimes it is sharp and 
bitter, even rude. Playfulness is to be allowed, 
and in every family there should be a readi- 
ness to take a jest without being hurt by it. 
Over-sensitiveness is a serious fault. Some 
persons are so touchy as to demand an exces- 
sive thoughtfulness — a watchfulness in all our 
relations with these over-gentle souls which 
is unreasonable, which makes friendship with 
them a burden. Life is too short, and has too 
many real duties and cares, for us to be held 
to such exactions of attention and kindness as 
these good people would demand. Yet always 
in our relations with others there should be 
that refined courtesy which is part of the lesson 
of love that we learn from our Master — " As 
I have loved you." Rude words never should 
be spoken, even in jest. 

Thoughtfulness will seek always to say kindly 
words, never words that will give pain, but ever 



104 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



those that will give pleasure. We have no 
right, for the sake of saying a bright thing, to 
let loose a shaft, however polished, that will 
make a loving heart bleed. Mr. Sill says: — 

These clumsy feet, still in the mire, 
Go crushing blossoms without end ; 

These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust 
Among the heart-strings of a friend. 

The ill-timed truth we might have kept — 

Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung ? 

The word we have not sense to say — 
Who knows how grandly it had rung ? 

These are fragments of a lesson which might 
be indefinitely extended. Are you thoughtful? 

— that is the question. Answer it for your- 
self. Some one has said, "Unless our religion 
has sweetened us to a very considerable extent 

— giving us the control of our temper, checked 
us in our moments of irritation and weakness, 
enabled us to meet misfortune and, in a meas- 
ure, overcome it, developed within us the vir- 
tues of patience and long-suffering, making 
us tender and charitable in our judgments of 
others, and generally diffusing about us an at- 
mosphere that is genial and winsome, — what- 
ever else we may have gained, one thing is 



LEARNING TO BE THOUGHTFUL. IO5 

sure, religion is not having its perfect work in 
us; and, even though our Christian life is clear 
and positive, it is only as a gnarled and twisted 
apple-tree that bears no fruit, only as a prickly 
bush that bears no roses, and the very thing 
which of all others we should have is the very 
thing in which we are most deficient. A Chris- 
tian life without sweetness is a lamp without 
light, salt without savor." 

We all know in our own experience the value 
of sincere and Christly thoughtfulness. We do 
not like to come in contact with thoughtless- 
ness. We know well how it hurts and how un- 
beautiful, how unchristian, it seems when we 
see it in another, and when our heart is the one 
that suffers from its harsh, rude impact. We 
all long for thoughtfulness ; our hearts hunger 
and thirst for it. It is bread and wine to us. 

"We long for tenderness like that which hung 

About us, lying on our mother's breast ; 
Unselfish feeling, that no pen or tongue 

Can praise aright since silence sings it best ; 
A love as far removed from passion's heat 

As from the dullness of its dying fire ; 
A love to lean on when the falling feet 

Begin to totter and the eyes to tire. 
In youth's bright hey-day hottest love we seek, 

The reddest rose we grasp ; but when it dies, 



I06 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



God grant that later blossoms, violets meek, 

May spring for us beneath life's autumn skies ; 
God grant some loving one be near to bless 
Our weary way with simple tenderness!" 

What we long for in others, in their relation 
to us, we should be ready to give to them. 
What in others hurts us, gives us pain, we 
ought to avoid in our contact with others. 
Thoughtfulness is one of the finest, ripest fruits 
of love, and all who would be like the Master 
must seek to learn this lesson and wear this 
grace. 



CHAPTER XV. 



ON THE CONTROL OF TEMPER. 

A great many people seem to have trouble 
with their temper. Some years since an Eng- 
lish philosopher undertook an investigation. 
He arranged that about two thousand persons 
should be put unconsciously under watchful eyes 
for a certain period, and that a study should 
be made of their temper. A tabulation of the 
reports showed that more than one-half of the 
two thousand were bad-tempered in various 
ways and degrees. Almost every adjective 
qualifying temper of an unlovely kind was used 
in defining the various shades and phases of 
unloveliness which were found to exist in the 
persons under inspection. 

It is not pleasant to believe that more than 
one-half of the people about us are so defective 
in the matter of temper. It is a comfort to 
know, however, that about forty-eight per cent 
are good-tempered in various degrees. Yet the 
fact that the preponderance is on the wrong 
side is humiliating. 

107 



I08 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



Many Christian people are willing to confess 
to an ungentle temper. They seem to think it, 
too, a matter of not very grave importance. 
Perhaps the very commonness of the infirmity 
blinds our eyes to its unbeauty and its sinful- 
ness. We are apt to regard the malady more 
as a weakness than as something which makes 
us guilty before God. 

But there is no question that bad temper is 
unchristlike. We cannot think of Jesus as ac- 
rimonious, touchy, irritable, peevish, or vindic- 
tive. Love ruled all his dispositions, his words, 
his feelings. He was put to the sorest tests, 
but never failed. He endured all manner of 
wrongs, insults, hurts; but, like those flowers 
which yield their sweetest perfume only when 
crushed, his life gave out the more sweetness 
the more it was exposed to men's rudeness and 
unkindness. We are like Christ only in the 
measure in which we have the patience, gentle- 
ness, and good-temper of Christ. 

We all agree that bad temper is very unlovely 
in other people ; it cannot be any more lovely 
in us as we appear to others' eyes. 

a Search thine own heart. What paineth thee 
In others in thyself may be ; 
All dust is frail, all flesh is weak : 
Be thou the true man thou dost seek." 



ON THE CONTROL OF TEMPER. 109 

We know, too, what discomfort and pain a bad 
temper causes wherever the person goes. One 
form of the malady is sulking. No doubt it is 
better to pout in silence than to go about spit- 
ting out angry words. It was arranged among 
the sisters of a certain family, that if one of 
them was in a bad humor she would go to her 
room, and stay there until she had worked off 
the unhappy mood, and was fit to be in society 
again. It would be well if such an arrange- 
ment could be made in other homes. A sulk- 
ing temper, however, does not make such havoc 
of happiness and comfort in others as a spit- 
fire temper does. An unbridled tongue at the 
mercy of an ungoverned temper scatters abroad 
coals of fire and sharp arrows which cause pain 
and anguish wherever they fly. 

It is easy enough to portray the unloveliness 
of bad temper, and describe the hurt and mis- 
chief wrought by its manifestations ; we would 
better address ourselves, however, to the ques- 
tion, How to get a sweet temper. One who 
finds himself possessed by an unlovely spirit 
should not be content to go a day longer with- 
out beginning the conquest and the culture 
which will transform the hateful disposition 
into something Christlike and beautiful. 

The first thing to remember is that the change 



IIO YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



can be wrought. You may say that you were 
born with a hasty temper, that you inherited it 
from both your father and mother. Very likely. 
Parents do not know what evil heritage they 
are transmitting to their children when they 
fail to control their own feelings and tongues; 
nor what a training-school for strife and irrita- 
bility they are conducting in their home, when 
they indulge in bickerings and contentions in 
the sacred place where only love and patience 
should have sway. 

But suppose that you have received your 
unhappy temper as a heritage, or have been 
trained into the habit in your home; you are 
not to conclude that you have no responsibility 
in the matter, or that you must stay, in despair- 
ing content, just as you are until the end of your 
days. Because one happens to be born with a 
faulty disposition is not a reason why one must 
live and die with it. The essential teaching 
of Christianity is that human nature can be 
changed. The worst temper can be schooled 
into the most divine sweetness of spirit. The 
tongue which no man can tame Christ can tame, 
so that, instead of bitterness, it shall give out 
only love. 

It is a great step in the right direction to 
know that one can get such a victory. One 



ON THE CONTROL OF TEMPER. Ill 

who is aware of his infirmity of temper, and is 
ashamed and sick of it, should never say, "I 
cannot help it. It cannot be cured. I must 
go through life a slave to this miserable habit/' 
A Christian may be more than conqueror over 
every weakness and everything sinful in him- 
self. All Christ's strength and victory are upon 
his side to help him to be victorious. Indeed, 
if he is a true Christian, he will never cease in 
his efforts to grow like his Master, until at last 
he is presented faultless before the divine pres- 
ence in exceeding joy. 

The first thing is to know clearly what is to 
be accomplished, and to determine that the 
beautiful ideal must certainly be reached. It 
is a great thing to have in one's soul a vision 
of perfection toward which one is to grow, and 
which is one day surely to be reached. 

" There grows in every heart as a shrine 
The giant image of perfection." 

What God puts into our heart as a vision he 
will help us to realize if we do our part. How- 
ever, the lesson is not to be learned in a day ; 
it will probably take you years to master it. 
But a little part of it should be got each day, 
one line added to the picture. Paul was quite 
an old man when he said he had learned in 



112 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

whatsoever state he was therein to be content. 
His language implies also that it was not easy 
for him to learn this lesson, and that he had 
not attained full proficiency in it until he had 
reached old age. The lesson of sweet temper 
is probably quite as hard as that of content- 
ment. It has to be learned, too, for it does 
not come naturally to many of us. But it can 
be learned. We need only to put ourselves 
into the school of Christ and stay there, accept- 
ing his teaching and discipline, and advancing 
little by little, until at last we can say, " I have 
learned in whatever circumstances I am, under 
whatever provocation, irritation, or temptation 
to anger or impatience, always to keep sweet- 
tempered.' , 

Self-control is really the heart of the lesson. 
Temper is not a bad quality ; temper is an ele- 
ment of strength. A person without temper is 
weak, soft, pliable, lacks spirit. The problem is 
not to crush or destroy temper, but to get the 
mastery of it, so as to be able to endure annoy- 
ance, wrong, insult, and not get angry, nor speak 
unadvisedly. Young people should school them- 
selves continually in self-control. A really 
strong man is one with strong passions and 
affections, which are held in complete mastery. 
This is the secret of a good temper^] 



ON THE CONTROL OF TEMPER. 1 1 3 

Then we can get help from Christ. In his 
own disciple family there was one who at the 
first was hasty, fiery, and vindictive, but who at 
length grew into such sweet beauty of disposi- 
tion and character that he was known as the 
beloved disciple, the disciple of love. John 
learned his lesson by lying on the bosom of 
Jesus. Intimacy with Christ, close, personal 
friendship with him, living near his heart of 
love, will transform the most unloving, undis- 
ciplined nature into sweetness of spirit. 

But there is more than even friendship, with 
its holy influence; Christ lives in the heart of 
every one who will admit him. Every true 
Christian is by right a temple of the Holy 
Ghost. If you let this holy guest dwell in you, 
he will transfigure you from within by the re- 
newing of your mind. He will fill your heart 
with love, — love that behaveth not itself un- 
seemly, that is not provoked; love that is 
patient, thoughtful, gentle, kind. Such love 
within the heart will soon get control of all 
the outer life, — the dispositions, the speech, 
the manners, and all the expression of the 
inner life. Thus bitterness, wrath, clamor, 
and all evil speaking will give place to gen- 
tleness, goodness, and grace. 

Of course we have a part and a responsibility 



114 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



in all this. We must accept the divine teach- 
ing, and receive the divine help. We must let 
the word of Christ dwell in us, let the peace of 
God rule us, let Christ himself live in us. - 

Every one of us should accept now the les- 
son of sweet temper which the Master sets, and 
should never intermit his diligence until the 
lesson is perfectly learned. That is the way 
God works in us; he sets the task for us, and 
then as we try to learn it he helps us. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE. 

One of the earliest experiences of life is the 
realizing that there are other people. It comes 
to the child when it first discovers that its free- 
dom is limited by the will of another. It can- 
not always have its own way. It finds its will 
opposed and its pleasure interrupted. Other 
people have something to say about the carry- 
ing out of its little plans. 

At every point as we go on into the thicken- 
ing experiences of life, the lesson of living with 
others meets us. It is not alway easy to accept 
gracefully these contacts with others, and to 
enter into kindly relations with them. There are 
some persons who seem to be very good alone, 
while no one comes near them, while no other 
life touches theirs, when they have to think of 
no one but themselves, who make wretched 
business of living when they come into personal 
relations with others. Then they are selfish, 
tyrannical, despotic, wilful, exacting. They 
will not yield to any other one's desire or 

115 



Il6 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



necessity. They must have their own way; 
and they drive their life like a rough plough- 
share right through the comfort, the desire, the 
feelings, of others. 

It seems almost a pity there could not be a 
few corners fenced off in this great world for 
such people as these, where they could live 
altogether alone, with no one ever to interfere 
with their rights or liberties, or to impinge in 
any way upon their comfort. But this is not 
God's ordinance for human lives. We are to 
live together in families, in communities, in 
friendship's circle. Indeed, no worse fate could 
befall us than to be doomed to live alone. We 
might thus be absolved from the duties of love, 
we could then have our own way, we should 
not be required to think of anybody but our- 
selves, and there would be no call for self-denial 
or sacrifice ; but, meanwhile, we should be grow- 
/ ing into monsters of selfishness. We never can 
learn love's lessons save in life's school, where 
the lessons are set for us in actual human 
relations. 

It certainly costs to live with people. We 
have to give up many of our own preferences to 
please them. We have to deny ourselves many 
enjoyments, so as not to give them /pain. The 
price of living with others sweetly and harmoni- 



GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE. 117 

ously is self-forgetfulness, self-effacement. But 
this cost is the very gold of life. It is the only 
antidote for selfishness. It is the way of Christ- 
likeness. People are means of grace to us in 
many ways, and not in the smallest degree 
through the self-denials which we are required 
to make in living with them. It is the self- 
discipline of friendship and home and human 
fellowship that makers men and women of us, 
that makes us like Christ. 

I used to pity those whom I saw in circum- 
stances in which they were compelled to bean 
heavy burdens for others, to serve, to sacrifice, 
to deny themselves, in fulfilling love's duties ; 
but I have learned to look upon such persons 
with deep interest as privileged scholars in 
Christ's school. If the lessons set for them 
are hard, the mastering of the lessons advances 
them in the rank of character. That is God's 
way^of making Christly men and women. 

But the problem before us now is how to get 
along with other people. There are instances 
in which there is scarcely any problem here at 
all ; the other people have learned the patience 
and love of Christ so well that anybody could 
live with them. They will not quarrel, they 
never stand up for their rights, they would 
rather suffer almost any wrong than resist. 



1 1 8 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS, 



Even a selfish and tyrannical man could get 
along with them, for they meekly let him have 
his own way. 

But usually the problem is not so easily 
solved. Other people want our recognition, 
claim their rights, resist encroachments, de- 
mand of us attention, respect, service. Then 
some people are touchy, easily provoked, always 
watching for slights, like tinder only waiting for 
a spark to start the fire. Some are obstinate 
and unyielding, heady, unwilling to give up 
their own opinion or their own way. The 
average people are probably like ourselves — 
little better, little worse, about as hard to live 
with as we are — probably no harder. 

The lesson set for us teaches us that we must 
not only live with people, but must live lovingly 
with them. This applies to all sorts and con- 
ditions of men, not the gentle and peaceable 
only, but the rude and quarrelsome as well. 
We are to love our enemies, to do good to 
those who treat us unkindly. The problem of 
Christian living is always to keep the heart 
sweet, the manner gracious and loving, and 
the hand outstretched for service, wherever we 
may be. 

How can we do this ? To begin with, we 
must have the spirit of love. We need to get 



GETTIXG ALONG WITH PEOPLE. I 1 9 

the true definition of love, too, that we may 
know what it requires. Love is not an easy 
sentiment. To love, according to the New 
Testament, is a very costly duty. Love suffer- 
ed! long and is kind. Love seeketh not its 
own, is not provoked, taketh not account of 
evil, beareth all things, endureth all things. 

We may break up the lesson into parts. We 
need patience in living with others. Patience 
implies suffering, — keeping quiet and sweet 
when it is not easy to do so, enduring pain with- 
out repining or murmuring, accepting wrong 
and injustice without resentment. Impatience 
never can get along peacefully with other 
people; but patience moves amid the greatest 
complexity of tastes, dispositions, and feelings, 
undisturbed. We all know some one who car- 
ries out this spirit. Perhaps it is in a home 
where it is not easy to practise the lesson of 
love ; but there this gentle spirit dwells with al- 
most angelic sweetness — quiet, suffering long. 
The more there is to suffer, the sweeter is this 
patient spirit. 

The spirit of service is another secret of liv- 
ing together happily. One who demands that 
others must show him deference, doing things 
for him, serving him, has not learned the true 
art of living with others. If he assumes this 



120 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



attitude to those about him, they will assume 
the same attitude toward him. The result at 
the best will be a sort of armed neutrality. But 
if one assumes toward others the spirit of lov- 
ing service, the desire to help and serve, he has 
solved the problem. It was thus that Jesus 
himself lived among men — he came "not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister. 99 His thought 
of others was, not what he might have them do 
for him, but what he might do for them, how he 
might help them, how he might advance their 
interests, how he might give them comfort or 
relief. If we relate ourselves to others in this 
way, we shall get on happily with them. Love 
begets love. Serving softens hearts and changes 
lives. 

Another secret of getting on well with others 
is to honor them, to expect noble and beauti- 
ful things of them, to set as our aim to bring 
out the best that is in them. Margaret Fuller 
said that all the good she had ever done to 
others she had done by calling on every nature 
for its best. To do this we do not need to 
flatter others, to appeal to their vanity by say- 
ing always complimentary things ; and yet there 
is fine grace in having a pleasing word to say 
to every one, a word that will honor him, and 
also inspire him to do beautiful things. The 



GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE. 121 

best way to do a man good is to expect good 
of him. If we always call on others for their 
best, we also make it easier to live with them ; 
for we see them through kindly eyes, and are 
patient with their faults and frailties. 

Thoughtfulness is another of the secrets of 
happy living with others. Most young people 
begin life without this grace. They do not nat- 
urally think of others, or modify their own con- 
duct for the sake of others. A boy goes through 
the house wearing his great heavy boots, sing- 
ing at the top of his voice, utterly heedless of 
the fact that his mother is sick in her room, 
and that his noise almost kills her. Thought- 
fulness has to be learned, but when it is learned 
it is a marvellous sweetener of associated life. 
Thoughtful people never speak the careless word 
that cuts to the heart. They avoid the un- 
pleasant theme of conversation. They are care- 
ful not to say anything that would excite anger 
or resentment. They are ready ever with the 
right word at the right time, and they come al- 
ways with their sympathy and kindness when 
the need is greatest. We never can get on well 
with others without thoughtfulness; but with 
this beautiful grace we are prepared to live in 
almost any condition without friction or irrita- 
tion. 



122 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



Another essential is good temper. Love is 
not provoked. It beareth all things and always 
keeps sweet. Some persons have a reserve of 
good nature which serves them well when others 
are disposed to get angry. They say some 
pleasant word which proves to be the soft an- 
swer that turneth away wrath. Put two touchy 
people together, and they will not easily learn 
the lesson of living in companionship. They 
will learn it if they are Christians; but it will 
not be done easily, nor without much cost and 
pain to both. In any case, however, a happy, 
cheerful temper is a wonderful sweetener of fel- 
lowship. We all are human; and there are few 
of us who at best do not say words, or do things, 
which give pain to those closest to us. Even 
true love is not always just and kind. Then 
it is that love must outdo love — the one who 
has been hurt must show love's long-suffering, 
overcoming evil with good. 

These are mere suggestions concerning the 
problem, how to live sweetly in relations with 
others. Young people are sometimes rash and 
hot-headed; and it is not so easy for such to 
live together in love as it is for those who are 
older, who have learned more lessons, whose 
hearts have been softened by life's experiences. 
The young are less ready to yield their own 



GETTING ALONG WITH PEOPLE. 1 23 



way. They are apt to be wilful and hasty. 
There is all the more reason, therefore, why 
young people should take up this lesson as one 
that must be learned if they would make much 
of their life. For if it is said of any one that 
other people cannot live with him, it is evident 
that something is seriously wrong with his life. 
It should be the aim of all, as much as lieth in 
them, to live peaceably with all others. They 
should practise self-restraint, humility, self- 
renunciation, the law of loving service, pa- 
tience, good temper, and all the Christian 
graces, so that their life shall be a benediction 
to all whom they touch. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE MATTER OF SOCIAL DUTIES. 

There are two extremes in the matter of 
sociability. One is to want to be with others 
all the time, never to be alone. There are 
girls who must either always have company or 
be company. They do not seem to themselves 
to be living unless they are chattering with 
somebody. There are young fellows who never 
spend an evening at home. When the day's 
duties are ended, as soon as they can hurry 
through their evening meal, they are off to meet 
some one, or to attend some entertainment. 
That is one way. 

The other is the unsocial way, never to go 
anywhere, nor to receive others at one's own 
home. Young persons who adopt this course 
are sometimes book-worms. They are eager to 
read and study; and they regard every minute 
spent in society, or in showing hospitality, as 
lost time, time stolen and wasted. Or if they 
are not book-worms they may be shy people, 
who cannot meet others without embarrassment 
124 



THE MATTER OF SOCIAL DUTIES. 12$ 

and shrink from all social contacts. So from 
sheer timidity they stay at home, perhaps not 
doing anything worth while, but merely avoid- 
ing meeting others. 

Or it may be through dislike to society. 
Many people are bored by company. People 
do not interest them. The conversation of the 
parlor wearies them. They feel themselves 
under no obligation to entertain others, or to 
put brightness and cheer into their hearts. 
They enjoy uninterrupted quiet more than any 
general companionship. For these or other 
reasons there are persons who avoid company 
as far as possible. They prefer to be alone 
rather than with others. 

Neither of these two ways of regarding so- 
cial duties is the ideal way. To be out on the 
street or in company continually, is to neglect 
duties to one's self and to one's home which 
come in among first obligations. On the other 
hand, to keep altogether to ' one's self, away 
from people, is to neglect duties which one 
owes to others, and at the same time to miss 
opportunities for self-culture which can be 
gotten only in contact with other lives. 

Young people cannot afford to let drop out 
of their life regular habits of reading and study. 
Their education is not finished; however well 



126 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



they may have mastered the curriculum of the 
schools through which they have passed. The 
best school only puts a bundle of keys into the 
pupils' hands, even at graduation. W ith these 
magic keys they can open many treasures of 
knowledge. But they fail to make any true 
and worthy use of their education, if, on leaving 
school, they shut up their books, and at the same 
time close the doors of their mind, and cease 
to add to their store of knowledge. The object 
of their education is to prepare them for read- 
ing and thinking intelligently. 

Every young person, therefore, should form 
and courageously and persistently maintain reg- 
ular habits of reading and study. This will 
require the setting apart of certain hours of 
each week when company must be excluded, 
when one must be alone with one's books. It 
will not do to leave this duty to any haphazard 
chance, taking up a book, the book that lies 
nearest, merely whenever there may be an un- 
occupied hour. The only way to make anything 
worth while of reading is to do it systematically, 
to put one's self under rigid rules in the matter. 
If young people are busy during the day, hours 
must be taken in the evenings. If they would 
grow in intelligence and advance in self-culture, 
they must be content to give to society only a 



THE MATTER OF SOCIAL DUTIES. 1 27 



proper proportion of time, putting self-improve- 
ment always first. 

Christian young people have duties also to 
their church. These will require at least one 
evening each week. There is an old proverb 
which says, "Prayer and provender hinder no 
man's journey." Anything else would better 
be left out of life than one's religious duties. 
Self-culture is the highest of all culture. To 
forget God is to cut one's self off from the 
source of all joy, blessing, and good. Yet one 
is not required to give all one's spare hours to 
religious meetings. There should be daily spir- 
itual exercises, the keeping unbroken of one's 
relation with God ; but this does not involve 
daily public services. We can soon run our 
soul very thin by going continually to meetings. 
Bible study is essential to true spiritual culture, 
and the best Bible study is usually in the closet. 
We should so order our life that we shall have 
daily silent times, when we can let the words 
of God speak themselves into our heart. It is 
the blessing which comes in such quiet moments 
that prepares us for the life we must live out- 
side, in the face of the world. 

The young people have duties to their own 
families which should keep them much at home. 
There is something wrong with the girl who is 



128 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



restless when she is not out somewhere, who 
never has time for long quiet talks with her 
mother, whom home duties irk and tire, and 
who is happy only when she is with her young 
friends outside. There is something wrong 
with the young man who never wants to spend 
an evening or an hour quietly with his own 
family. If the home is happy and true, the 
young folks in it can have no sweeter enjoy- 
ments than those they may find within their own 
doors, with no stranger to intermeddle. Then 
they owe it to their loved ones to bring their 
share of fellowship and brightness into the 
home life. It is not fair to keep all one's 
cheer for others, robbing those who deserve the 
best one has to give. 

These are suggestions of duties on one side. 
Young persons cannot afford to give all their 
time and interest to social matters. But there 
are duties which we owe to society. The rule 
of Christian love requires us to think of the 
things of others as well as of those which 
concern ourselves. We owe a debt to every 
one who comes within the range of our influ- 
ence. We are commanded to please others for 
their good, to edification. An unsocial person 
is not showing the best there is in religion. 
Love is cordial, kindly, sympathetic, obliging. 



THE MATTER OF SOCIAL DUTIES. 1 29 

It makes the disposition sunny. The truest 
Christian has the kindliest interest in others. 

Jesus was always ready to give himself to 
men. While he often spent his nights apart 
with God, and had his hours when he hid away 
from men, yet he went among the people freely, 
and was a wonderful dispenser of cheer, com- 
fort, and kindness. We should train ourselves 
to be in the world as he was. We should not 
selfishly withhold our life from those who need 
it. We should carry out to others the blessing 
and the good we get for ourselves in the quiet 
of our study, or in the sweetness of our home 
fellowships. We are to be dispensers of God's 
good gifts. What we receive, and would keep 
for ourselves only, will not avail for good even 
to us; for we really have only what we give. 
Keeping for ourselves only is losing. Hence 
no young person should be a recluse, shutting 
himself away from others, on the ground that 
he must devote all his time to self-improve- 
ment. He owes a debt to others which he can 
pay only by going among others. 

Of course, it follows that one's social influ- 
ence should be always good, refining, inspiring, 
uplifting. It is a serious thing to touch an- 
other life if the touch be not in blessing. There 
are young people whose influence is unwhole- 



130 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



some. They do not make others better, hap- 
pier, truer, richer-hearted. They lead toward 
lower planes of living, not higher; they are of 
the earth, earthy. 

This is not a proper use to make of one's 
life. It is possible, however, for young people 
to do much good in their social relations, not 
by preaching, but by sweet neighborly living. 
They may be so true, so courteous, so thought- 
ful, so helpful, that even in hours of play and 
amusement their influence shall be refining and 
wholesome. That should be the intent of all 
Christian influence. 

Hospitality is a Christian duty. We are 
exhorted in Holy Scripture to be ready to en- 
tertain strangers, since by doing so some have 
entertained angels unawares. Some people say 
they have not time for hospitality; that duties 
press too urgently; that guests in; the home in- 
terrupt the order of the household life. Some 
busy Christian men think, too, that they must 
shut themselves away from calls. But it can 
only be with twofold loss that one declines the 
privilege of showing hospitality, — the losing 
of countless opportunities of doing good, and 
the loss to one's self of the good which " angels 
unawares 99 bring when they come. Not many 
young people can plead that they are too busy 



THE MATTER OF SOCIAL DUTIES. 131 



to see such as come to them ; and they cannot 
know the value of a cordial welcome to those 
who come, nor can they estimate the blessing 
to themselves that even a stranger, received in 
the name of Christ, may bring to them. 

Thus there are social duties which one may 
not refuse to perform; they are binding and 
incumbent. Then, to shut ourselves away 
from others is not only to withhold the bless- 
ing we owe to them ; it is also to rob ourselves 
of great good which we can get only through 
wholesome contact with other lives. Without 
being sanctimonious or priggish, we should 
make even our social relations opportunities 
of being helpful. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE USE OF TIME. 

If you saw a man standing by the shore, and 
flinging gold coins and diamonds into the sea, 
you would say he was insane. Yet the angels 
see many people continually doing something 
very like this. Not gold and precious stones 
do they thus throw away, but minutes, hours, 
days, weeks, and years of time, — possessions 
which are of greater worth than any coins and 
gems of earth. 

" Come, gone — gone forever, 

Gone as an unreturning river, — 
To-morrow, to-day, yesterday, never, 
Gone once for all." 

If we knew the intrinsic value of time to 
us, we would not allow a moment of it ever to 
be wasted. It is said that in the mints, where 
money is coined, the sweepings of the floors 
are gathered and passed through the fire, and 
that in the course of a year large amounts of 
gold are saved from the mere dust of the pre- 
132 



THE USE OF TIME. 



133 



cious metal which flies from it as it passes 
through the various processes of minting. 
What vast values would be saved if there 
were some way of gathering up all the little 
fragments of the days and hours, the golden 
dust of time, which people let drop amid the 
wastes ! 

Then think how much most of us would really 
add to the length of our life if we had learned 
to use every hour and moment. We talk pa- 
thetically of the brevity of life. We are often 
heard complaining about the shortness of the 
days, wishing they had many more hours in 
them. Probably the majority of persons who 
live seventy-five years could have doubled their 
span — living practically one hundred and fifty 
years — if they had only used their time with 
wise economy, and had not squandered any of 
it. This is only saying that they have wasted 
one-half of their time, and have made only one- 
half as much of their life as they might have 
done. 

(There are many ways in which time is wasted. 
There is a great deal more resting than is 
necessary. There is an impression that a 
few hours' work gives one a right to rest all 
the other hours of the twenty-four. Every one 
must rest. There are divine ordinances which 



134 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



call us to rest. We spend about one-third 
of our time in sleep. Sleep is necessary; 
the hours given to it are not wasted, although 
some sleep more than is necessary. God gives 
blessings to his beloved in sleep, — blessings 
of renewal of strength, the refilling of the ex- 
hausted fountains of life. Our Sabbaths take 
one-seventh of our whole life, but time spent 
in true Sabbath -keeping is not wasted. Then, 
time must be given to eating, to physical exer- 
cise, to home fellowships, to friendships, to re- 
ligious services, private and public, and to 
reading and study. 

.But time thus used is not lost or wasted. 
This resting is as much a part of our real living 
as actual work rs. Yet there are many persons 
who fail to get the most from their hours of rec- 
reation. The best rest is not absolute idleness, 
but occupation that calls into play a class of 
faculties which are not active in one's ordinary 
work. There are those who, after busy days in 
some trade or business or other calling, find 
several hours every evening for reading good 
books. Thus they add continually to the qual- 
ity of their life, keeping in exercise a very im- 
portant part of their nature, enriching their 
character, and preparing themselves for larger 
influence and greater usefulness. 



THE USE OF TIME. 1 35 

There are many ways of wasting time. Many 
really busy people waste a great deal of time 
in little fragments — five minutes here, ten min- 
utes there, half an hour to-day, and an hour to- 
morrow. Those who understand the true value 
of time, and have learned the secret of using it, 
always have something worth while to fill up all 
the little interstices. They have a book to read 
when they find a few minutes to spare before a 
meal is ready, or when waiting for one on whom 
they have called to appear, in the railway sta- 
tion waiting for the train, or on any occasion 
of delay. Time is well spent in which we get 
a beautiful thought, an important fact or a sug- 
gestion of a lesson into our mind. 

Or the fragments of time may be filled with 
little acts of helpfulness or kindness. You are 
travelling. You cannot read all the time. But 
there are persons travelling with you to whom 
perhaps you may properly introduce yourself. 
You may lay down your book for a little quiet 
talk with a seatmate or a fellow-passenger. 
There are lives which carry ever afterward the 
memory and the influence of little talks with 
strangers on a railway train or in a stage-coach 
or on a steamer. If one's heart be full of the 
love of Christ, there is no limit to the blessing 
one may be in this way. Thus the moments, 



136 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

instead of being wasted in idle dreaming, may 
be given something to keep which they will 
bring back at judgment day multiplied a thou- 
sand-fold. 

A writer tells of an English nobleman, who, 
when he went over his estate, always carried 
acorns in his pocket; and when he found a bare 
spot, he would plant one of them. By and by 
there would be a tree growing on the place, 
adorning it. So we may plant on every empty 
space of time a seed of something beautiful, 
which will not only be an adornment, but will 
prove a blessing to others. It is one of the 
finest secrets of life to know how to redeem 
the minutes from waste, and to make them bear- 
ers of blessing, of cheer, of encouragement, of 
good, to others. 

No time given to service of love is wasted, 
even though nothing seems to come of it. Some 
persons are discouraged in their efforts to do 
good because so much of their kindness seems 
to be in vain. But no good deed or word is 
really lost. Sometime, somewhere, the bless- 
ing will appear. If the one you sought to help 
is not helped, some other one may be instead. 
Then the whole world is sweeter because of 
every kindness done or good word spoken. 
Charles Kingsley says, — 



THE USE OF TIME. 



137 



There is no failure for the good or wise ; 
What though thy seed should fall by the wayside, 
And the birds snatch it? Yet the birds are fed; 
Or they may bear it far across the tide 
To give rich harvest a c ter thou art dead. 

Much time is wasted in useless occupation, in 
doing things which are not worth while. No 
sin is worth while — rather, it is the sowing of 
a curse, not only in the world, but also in the 
heart of him who does the sinful thing. Time 
spent in sin is far worse than wasted. Then, 
there are other things which are not regarded as 
sins, but which are of no value to any one, and 
bring no benefit to him who spends his time in 
doing them. There is a great deal of reading 
that is not worth while. You go through book 
after book, and from all the pages get not one 
enriching thought, one helpful inspiration, one 
suggestion of beauty, one impulse toward a 
better life. All you have at the end of a year 
of such reading is only a confused memory of 
exciting sensations, unwholesome incidents, 
and unreal experiences. You would better have 
spent the time in sleep or in sheer idleness than 
in going through such worthless books. 

There is altogether too much of such read- 
ing done. There are good novels, great works 
of fiction, which teach splendid lessons, which 



138 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



show magnificent character and noble conduct, 
which inspire their readers to truer, better liv- 
ing. But there are novels which give unworthy 
and unwholesome thoughts of life, which leave 
in the mind of readers a residuum of unholy 
thoughts, false ideals, the trail of the serpent. 
Then there are novels which, if they are not 
positively evil in their spirit and tendency, are 
inane, senseless, with nothing in them to make 
any one truer, braver, or sweeter-spirited. 

A great deal of the popular reading of our 
day is but a waste of time, if not worse. If 
instead of it people would read only that which 
is worth while, how much richer they would be 
at the end of their life! 

These are only suggestions of ways of using 
and wasting time. No problem that comes be- 
fore us is mor^e important than this — what to 
do with time. It is a young people's problem, 
too; because in youth, if ever, we learn how to 
live. The habits we form then will go with us 
to the end of our days. If we learn then the 
value of moments, and form the habit of giv- 
ing every minute something worthy to keep, we 
shall have found the secret of living in three- 
score and ten years full tenscore years of such 
life as most people live. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



THE MAKING OF A MAN. 

This world is not a place merely to live in, 
nor a place in which to do certain kinds of busi- 
ness ; it is a great workshop in which to make 
men. 

It is not easy for us to be good and to grow 
into beautiful life. Even God does not find it 
easy to make us into noble character. It is not 
hard to take a lump of clay, and shape it into 
any form we desire. It is fairly easy to take a 
piece of soft wood, and carve it into a figure of 
beauty. It is harder to cut a block of marble 
into a form of loveliness, for the stone is hard. 
But it is harder still to take a block of human- 
ity, and make it into a man, bearing the divine 
image. Yet that is what God is doing with 
every human life that lies in his hands. 
\ N A baby is not a man. It may be very beauti- 
ful and sweety and may have folded up in its 
life many fine possibilities; but it is only a 
baby. All its lessons have yet to be learned, 
its powers have yet to be developed, the capaci- 

i39 



I40 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ties that lie folded up in its hand and brain and 
heart have yet to be brought out and trained, 
its character has to be fashioned into loveliness 
and strength. The education begins at once, 
with the mother for teacher and the home for 
schoolroom; but the process must be slow, and 
it will require a long time. 

* As the child gets older, other teachers come 
in and do their work, and the sphere of the 
education widens. The boy goes to school, 
perhaps by and by to college. At last he is 
graduated, or finishes his apprenticeship or his 
training, and takes hold of life's duties for him- 
self. But the man is not yet made. He has 
reached an important stage in life. He takes 
his place among men. Burdens and responsi- 
bilities are put upon him. 

Now he begins to learn the>tieeper lessons of 
life — begins to learn how to live. The princi- 
ples he has adopted for himself are now to be 
tested in practice. His theories of duty he is 
now to work out in every-day experience. His 
character is to be tried, and by the strain upon 
it is to be fashioned and wrought into fixedness 
and permanency. Life itself is now the school, 
and the conditions and experiences of life are 
the teachers. 

Now it is seen how the training the young 



THE MAKING OF A MAN. 



141 



man has received in the schools of his youth 
has fitted him^or real life. Perhaps he has 
wasted his time and missed his lessons ; if so, 
he will find himself unequal to the duties which 
come into his hands. Perhaps he has failed in 
acquiring self-discipline, or has not gathered 
into his life the strength of moral principle; if 
so, he will fail in the stress of temptation, and 
will not stand the testing of character which 
every young man must meet when he enters the 
world's battles. 

Now it is that the real making of the man 
begins. All that has gone before has been pre- 
liminary and preparatory. It is in duty, in bur- 
den-bearing, in struggle, in temptation, in joy 
and sorrow, in prosperity and adversity, in 
ease and hardship, in pleasure and pain, in 
health and sickness, in life's experiences of all 
kinds, that the work goes on. Everywhere les- 
sons are set which must be learned, if the result 
in character-building is to be satisfactory. 

Take patience, for example. The etymology 
of the word shows that it is not an easy lesson 
to learn. It implies suffering, endurance. It 
is in the bearing of pain, trial, wrong, v or hard- 
ship, that patience is developed. One defini- 
tion is, "The character or habit of mind that 
enables us to suffer afflictions, calamity, provo- 



142 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



cation, or other evil, with a calm, unruffled 
temper; endurance without murmuring or fret- 
fulness; calmness; composure." 

A young person may have had very little op- 
portunity to learn patience. He has had only 
ease and his own way, without sickness, disap- 
pointment, or pain, with almost no wish un- 
granted, no desire ungratified, no craving 
unmet. How will he behave in sickness, in 
sorrow, or in pain ? How will he endure injury, 
injustice, and wrong? How will he stand the 
test of disappointment, defeat, or failure ? 
What will be the effect on him of unpleasant 
contacts with other men ? Will he prove patient 
in such antagonisms? Will he always keep 
sweet ? 

Patience is only one of the lessons; there are 
many more which go to the making of a man. 
Courage is one. In every scheme of manly 
character courage is set down as a fundamental 
quality. All the world scorns cowardice. The 
highest courage is not physical, merely, but 
moral. There are men whose faces grow pale 
in presence of danger, but who, nevertheless, 
stand firm in their place, or move on in the path 
of duty without faltering. True moral courage 
shows itself in devotion to principle, in faithful 
adherence to the right, in the consecration of 



THE MAKING OF A MAN. 1 43 



the life to common duties, and in the resisting 
of temptation. 

But courage, too, is a lesson set for us, and 
one which must be learned. We are not all 
born brave, at least morally brave. The lesson 
should be taught in the home and in life's first 
schools. Young people themselves, so soon as 
they become conscious of the nobleness of cour- 
age and the unworthiness of cowardice, should 
take up the lesson and master it. The way to 
do this is to hold one's self resolutely and un- 
flinchingly to all heroic and manly conduct in 
every experience. Bravery is not bluster — 
quietness is a better test of heroism, ofttimes, 
than noise. It is in rigid self-discipline that 
this manly quality is gained and wrought into 
the character. 

Another of the elements in a true man is gen- 
tleness — a man must be a gentleman. This 
includes all the fine feelings wrought into life. 
The noblest types of manliness the world has 
ever seen have been marked by womanly gentle- 
ness. Jesus was the ideal man ; and he would 
not even break a bruised reed, so gentle was 
he. Heartlessness is unmanliness, amid what- 
soever other great qualities it may be found. 

This lesson, too, must be learned. The gen- 
tle touch must be gotten by training. The 



144 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

secret is in refinement of feeling. The love 
which is taught in the New Testament makes 
one gentle. Every one who would make a true 
man of himself must cultivate gentleness, both 
as a spirit in his heart and as a trait in his dis- 
position, his words, his conduct, his acts. 

These are a few of the qualities which must 
always go to the making of a man. Young peo- 
ple must not think that they will naturally grow 
into fine character, without any care of their 
own; the natural drift of life is the other way 
— away from manliness. Only training and 
self-discipline will yield the noble product. 
Through all the years the education must go 
on. Every day brings its new lesson. Every 
experience has its mission in the building and 
adorning of the character. 

The lesson in all this is that experiences 
alone will not make a worthy and noble man 
out of any one. Several things are essential in 
order that beauty may be wrought out in life's 
school. The preparation must be right. A 
misspent youth, with squandered privileges, in- 
sures failure in life. Every day and hour of 
youth must be well spent if one is to be ready 
for manhood. 

The true meaning of experiences must be un- 
derstood. Many lives are hurt and marred by 



THE MAKING OF A MAN. 1 45 

the things which are intended to fashion them 
into beauty and strength. We must meet all 
experiences victoriously. 

Then we need Christ at every point. To 
leave Christ out of life is to thrust away the 
only hand which can make circumstances min- 
ister to the building up of character. Without 
Christ, apart from him, only marring can come. 
If we have Christ in all our life, we shall grow 
into his beauty. 



CHAPTER XX. 



ON KEEPING UP THE IDEAL. 

Some one says that the sentence, " That will 
do," has done more harm than any other sen- 
tence in the English language. It indicates the 
acceptance of a standard below the highest. A 
person has done something which is not his best. 
He recognizes the fact ; but he is too indolent 
to do it over again, or he is impatient to get the 
matter off his hands, and decides to let it go 
as it is. " That will do," is a confession of un- 
worthiness in what is done, and of indolence 
in the person who does it. He knows he could 
do better, but decides to let it pass. 

Yet this miserable sentence is the ruling 
motto of many persons' lives. They never do 
the best they might do. Their whole life is 
slipshod. They began as children in school, 
doing barely well enough to pass. They never 
aimed to excel. They had no ambition to be 
first or to do perfect work. It was the same 
on the playground as in the schoolroom — they 
were satisfied to drag through the game, playing 
146 



ON KEEPING UP THE IDEAL. 1 47 

only passably well. They never put quite their 
whole soul into anything they did. 

Thus habits of easy satisfaction were formed 
in their early years, and they have gone through 
life with the same unworthy spirit. They know 
they are not working up to their best, but it 
does not worry them. They have learned to 
say at every point, " That will do ; " and this 
covers up the delinquencies and apologizes for 
the failures. 

All the standards of life are affected by it. 
Conduct is not what it should be. A man 
knows he is not doing what is really right, 
that his act would not bear the scrutiny of a 
rigid judgment ; but he says indolently, " Oh, 
that will do," and so passes over the matter 
without further compunction. Next time it is 
easier to fall below the mark; and so the trend 
is ever downward, until conscience ceases to 
sting and chide. 

A man's work or business also is affected by 
this spirit. He is content with small achieve- 
ments and low attainments. He knows he is 
not accomplishing what he might accomplish, 
but it costs less to do things in this easy-going 
way than to do them well, and he soon gets 
used to the low standard. So it comes about 
that the man who might have made a splendid 



148 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



mark for himself in his profession, in his busi- 
ness, or in his trade, never rises above a piti- 
able mediocrity. "That will do 99 has soothed 
his languishing enthusiasm into a sleep, out of 
which nothing ever can wholly awaken it. 

Young people should train themselves from 
childhood never to be satisfied with anything 
but the very best they can do. A much better 
maxim to rule them would be, " The good is the 
enemy of the best." The good should not be 
enough ; nothing should satisfy but the best. 
Children should begin in school by mastering 
every lesson, and keeping a high standard in 
all their studies. Then in their conduct and 
behavior they should be most rigid with them- 
selves, exacting the strictest truth in word and 
act, the whitest purity in motive, thought, and 
feeling, and the utmost sincerity and faithful- 
ness in all their relations with others. In what- 
ever they do they should be satisfied with 
nothing less than their very best. They should 
never allow themselves to say of any poor effort, 
whatever the haste or the weariness, "That will 



Nothing else is so enervating as the indolent, 
self-indulgent spirit. He who thus seeks to 
save himself, loses himself. Youth should scorn 
self-indulgence in every form. It should court 



do. 



ON KEEPING UP THE IDEAL. 1 49 

hardship rather than ease. What right have 
strong young men to demand luxury, — soft 
beds, smooth roads, light burdens, short hours? 
Rather it should be their pride to grapple with 
hardness and difficulty, and to be heroic in 
their struggles. Young men should be ashamed 
to do any duty indolently, or even to fall short 
of the best. 

It is a great thing to have a lofty ideal and to 
live up to it. Michael Angelo said, "Nothing 
makes the soul so pure, so religious, as the 
endeavor to create something perfect; for God 
is perfect, and whoever strives for perfection 
strives for something Godlike." The blessing 
is in the striving. 

u Not failure, but low aim, is crime." 

Though we fail to reach our ideal, the effort to 
reach it does us good. First, it proves our faith- 
fulness. How can we ever look God in the 
face, if we have not earnestly tried to do our 
best? But when we have struggled with all 
our might toward the attainment of the noble 
ideal which haunts us, though we have come 
short of it, we shall not be ashamed to stand 
before God at last, conscious that we have done 
our best. 

Striving always after the perfect ideal also 



I50 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

lifts us step by step toward the ever-unattained 
excellence. We grow better through every effort 
we make to be better. Every time we try to do 
any most common work perfectly, we are doing 
also another work of far greater importance on 
our own character. The carpenter is a better 
man for having wrought a good piece of car- 
pentering. The housekeeper is a better woman 
for having made her home beautiful, and filled 
it with comfort and the sweetness of love. Do- 
ing the most common tasks well makes the life 
itself nobler and more Christlike. 

On the other hand, he who does anything in- 
dolently, in slovenly fashion, less skilfully than 
he could have done it, has not only left a piece 
of work in the world which will shame him some 
day, but has also done harm to his own soul. 

We do not think enough of this effect on our 
character of what we do in our ordinary tasks. 
We say it makes no difference if we skimp our 
work when there is nothing important in it. 
You write a postal-card carelessly. The car- 
penter does not take pains with the piece of 
carpentering he is doing. The pupil does not 
get the lesson thoroughly. The housekeeper 
does not sweep the dark corners of her rooms. 
The author writes his book hurriedly, not doing 
his best. Neither of these persons thinks of 



ON KEEPING UP THE IDEAL. I 5 I 

any other evil result but that which is left in 
the work itself ; that they confess is not what 
it might have been. But in each case a far more 
serious evil result was left in the life of him who 
did his task in a negligent way. We are work- 
ing all the while in two spheres, — on matter, 
where men see the kind of work we do, and on 
our own inner life, where only God's eye can 
see the marks we make. 

We are not accustomed to consider this close 
identifying of our common task-work in the 
world with our own spiritual up-building. Care- 
lessness in our daily duties hinders our growth 
and sanctification. Doing the best we can in 
our secular occupations makes us holier, and 
helps to fashion the image of Christ in our 
heart. 

Thus it is much more important than we are 
apt to think that we strive always to do perfect 
work, even in the lowliest and the commonest 
things we undertake. What we do outside for 
men's eyes, we do also within for God's eyes. 
Slovenly work in school or in business or on a 
building or on a farm or in the home is also 
slovenly work on one's own character. 

Many catastrophes come in later years from 
doing imperfect or careless work in youth. 
When digging for the foundation of a great 



152 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



building, the workmen came upon a piece of 
old wall. " That will do," they said ; and they 
left it in the new wall, building round it. The 
great structure went up, and was filled with 
business. One day there was a crash. The 
fragment of old wall had given way, and the 
whole building fell in ruin. 

Continually, young people are leaving in the 
foundation walls of their character a fault, a 
wrong habit, a weakness, a flaw. It would be 
hard to dig it out. It is easier just to build 
over and around it, and so they let it stay. 
"That will do," they say apologetically. Then 
years afterward, in some great stress or strain, 
the character fails and falls into ruin ; it is seen 
then that that careless piece of foundation- 
building was the cause of it all. 

No more serious problem arises in a young 
person's life than the temptation, ever-recurring, 
to do things negligently, to pass slipshod or 
slovenly work. Nothing but the best we can 
do in the circumstances should ever be allowed 
to leave our hands. Never should any young 
person permit his work, his words, his life, any 
of his habits, to be ruled by a motto so unworthy, 
so debasing in its influence, as, "That will do." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



A HIGH SENSE OF HONOR. 

Everything that is beautiful in life should be 
most earnestly coveted by every young person. 
Youth is the time for the building of character. 
What we expect to be when we are out in the 
world in mid-life, we must begin to be when we 
are in school. If we would have a good name 
at forty, we must do only worthy and honorable 
things through the years that lead to forty. 

Nothing is too small to take into the account 
in the making up of life. We may say there is 
no harm in this, that that is not wrong, that we 
would be foolish to care for such little things as 
moralists insist upon. But " trifles make per- 
fection." It is ofttimes the little blemishes that 
mar the beauty, the little " no harms " that dim 
the lustre, of the character. " Dead flies cause 
the ointment of the perfumer to send forth a 
stinking savor." 

There are many little things which seem not 
to be sinful, not distinctly immoral, which yet 
indicate a low moral tone. It is very easy to 

i53 



154 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

grow lenient with one's self, to relax the severe 
demands of one's conscience, and to drop into 
little self-indulgences which not many years past 
one could not have been induced to admit into 
one's life. 

Many men find themselves doing things in 
their mid-years w r hich in their young manhood 
they could not have consented to do. There is 
need, therefore, for the cultivation among young 
people of a high sense of honor, and the main- 
tenance of a lofty standard of life and conduct. 
There are many temptations to things which 
are not altogether honorable. Every such temp- 
tation should be met with resolute firmness. 
Only the sternest and most rigorous self-disci- 
pline will keep one's life up to a high standard 
in this regard. It is easy to think that what is 
conventional in conduct is good enough — being 
as good as other people are. But we must take 
no lower standard than absolute perfection. We 
must set our watches by the sun, not by any 
other person's w T atch. 

A high sense of honor should make it impos- 
sible for one to do anything petty or small, to 
speak unkindly of a friend, or to repeat a confi- 
dential conversation or anything told in con- 
fidence. 

This law of honor applies to all that one may 



A HIGH SENSE OE HONOR. I 5 5 



learn of a family in which one has been a guest. 
There may have been little occurrences in the 
household life which it would be easy to gossip 
about outside. Sometimes even in excellent 
homes there are small infelicities at table, dis- 
cussions which grow warm, differences of opinion 
about this or that. There may be family pecu- 
liarities, or little habits which seem strange. No 
one can be a guest for a few days in any home 
without seeing or hearing something which it 
would be easy to talk about and criticise. But 
this is a case in which a sense of honor forbids 
any mention outside of what one may have heard 
or seen. A guest in a home is received in con- 
fidence ; and the acceptance of the hospitality 
seals one's lips and forbids any comment or 
criticism, or the rehearsal of anything that would 
in the slightest way reflect on the character of 
the home or the home-life. 

There are many other applications of this 
principle. Too often there is a lack of highest 
honor in friendship. There are many who are 
not careful in speaking of their friends in their 
absence, who join too readily in criticism of 
them, when a fine sense of honor would lead 
them to speak words of defence. There is no 
truer test of friendship than the way one speaks 
of another behind the other's back. 



156 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

Another mark of honor in friendship is loyalty 
when it costs something to be loyal. Our friend 
is in need of help, which we can give, but only 
at much personal sacrifice. True love always 
serves. God so loved that he gave. Love 
always gives, and the giving is the measure of 
the loving. Christ loved and served unto the 
uttermost. What we will do or suffer for one 
we love is the measure of our loving. Too many 
friendships are found wanting when there is 
need for deed as well as word. 

A word may be said about honor in money 
matters. There are some good people who are 
very negligent in paying their debts. The bor- 
rowing propensity is too much indulged. They 
are always getting loans of little amounts from 
friends and neighbors. They want the money 
only until to-morrow ; but they forget, or at least 
fail, to return it. Young people should resolutely 
determine that in all such matters they will 
maintain the highest honor. As far as possible 
they should "owe no man anything," keeping 
out of debt absolutely ; but if they have occa- 
sion to ask a favor, they should repay it at the 
hour they promised to do it. In business a man's 
note going to protest hurts his commercial stand- 
ing, perhaps leads to his downfall among men. 
When a man's word goes to protest, although it 



A HIGH SENSE OF HONOR. 1 57 

be only in a matter of five cents or a postage- 
stamp, harm has been done to his reputation. 

There is need, too, for a fine sense of honor 
in the handling of the money which belongs to 
others. Almost every society has a treasurer — 
often a young person. The amount of money 
in hand may never be large ; but the honor re- 
quired in the treasurer is the same, however 
small the sum that is held in trust. Sometimes 
there is a temptation to use the money in one's 
own affairs, as there is no present need for it 
in the society, and will be no call for it for a 
time. There is not the slightest thought of ap- 
propriating the funds for any but temporary 
use ; when the society needs them they will be 
paid out of one's own pocket. But there have 
been cases when the money thus used could not 
be returned when it was called for. 

Sometimes, too, money held in the hands of 
a treasurer is allowed to pass out to help a 
friend, another member of the family perhaps, 
with the assurance that when it is required it 
will be returned. There have been cases of 
this kind in which serious trouble has occurred 
because the money could not be refunded. 

But whether there is trouble or not, the ques- 
tion of honor remains unchanged. We have no 
right ever to borrow or to lend from trust funds 



158 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

in our hands for any purpose whatever. Such 
funds are sacred, and should be kept inviolable. 

Thus in every department of life we should 
set as our standard the highest sense of honor 
in all our conduct, and in all our relations to 
others. God desires truth in the inward parts, 
and that truth should show itself without blem- 
ish or spot in every word and act. 

It was said of Sir Isaac Newton, by those 
who knew him most intimately, that he had the 
whitest soul they had ever known. His heart 
was set ever upon finding out and telling others 
the simple, honest, straightforward truth about 
any subject with which he had to do. No selfish 
thought, no hidden motive, came in to lead him 
to vary in the smallest particular from the truth. 
His motto always was, u Let me know and say 
what is true." Those who live thus will honor 
God, will win for themselves an honored repu- 
tation, and will bless the world. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



ON DOING OUR BEST. 

Your best is all you are ever required to do ; 
indeed, no one can do more. It is not some 
other one's best that is expected of you, either, 
but your own. Sometimes people forget this, 
and worry because they cannot do as well as 
some other person does. Our gifts differ : no 
two are just alike in their capacity. Besides, no 
two are ever at precisely the same point in their 
progress. Of a student in a lower form it is not 
demanded that he do as well as one in a higher 
class. The young girl who has been taking 
music-lessons only a year is not expected to 
play as well as her sister who has been studying 
for five or six years with the best teachers. You 
are to do your own best, not some other one's. 

It is a shame for any one ever to do less than 
his best. It may be only the writing of a postal- 
card, but it should be done as carefully and 
neatly as you can possibly do it. You should 
never send a carelessly written scrawl to any one 
for a letter. Some persons fall into wretched 
l S9 



l6o YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



habits of writing. Their chirography is exe- 
crable, so illegible that their letters can be deci- 
phered only by the most painful effort, and then 
ofttimes only half made out. Some people seem 
to fancy that plain, beautiful handwriting is a 
mark of inferiority of some kind ; at least, it is 
a common tradition that all great men write 
very illegibly. But, really, bad handwriting is 
never a mark of genius. No doubt some great 
men have written miserably enough, but their 
bad chirography was no proof of their greatness. 
Nor does it follow that scrawling, unreadable 
handwriting will make you great. Write as 
plainly and beautifully as you can. Think of 
the person who is to read your letter, and have 
pity. Many eyes are strained and hurt in de- 
ciphering careless writing, to say nothing of the 
straining of patience and the hurting of the 
temper caused by the trying ordeal. 

The same motto — always do your best — 
should be applied to everything we do. A man 
who had risen from a very humble beginning 
to distinction, even to great eminence, when 
asked the secret of his successful life, said he 
had always sought to do his best in whatever 
he undertook, summoning the best thought, the 
finest skill, the greatest energy, of which he was 
capable, to every piece of work he was doing. 



ON DOING OUR BEST. l6l 

He demanded of himself, too, that to-day's best 
should always be better than yesterday's. 

It were well for us if we all would make and 
follow inflexibly such a rule as this. No most 
trivial thing should we ever do carelessly. All 
work is for God, and it is sacrilege to do any- 
thing for him in a slovenly, negligent manner. 
It is a desecration to put marred or careless 
work on any block we carve for God's temple. 
The workmen on the old cathedrals wrought as 
conscientiously and as perfectly on the parts of 
the building which would be high up, far out 
of human sight, as on the altar-rail or the carv- 
ings of the great doors which every eye should 
see and admire. 

When a heathen artist was asked why he 
took so much pains with the back of the figures 
he was chiselling, since they would be against 
the walls and no one would ever see them, his 
noble answer was, ''The gods will see them." 
Always we are working for God's eye, and should 
ever do our best. 

Not only are we working for God's eye, but it 
is God's own work that we are doing. Whether 
a man is a carpenter, a painter, a stone-cutter, 
a farmer, a teacher, or a minister, it is God's 
work he has in hand ; and he must do his best. 
Old Stradivarius, the violin-maker, was right 



1 62 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



when he said that if his hand slacked he would 
rob God. We rob God whenever we do any- 
thing carelessly, or do less than our best. A 
writer says, " The universe is not quite complete 
without my work well clone." We misrepresent 
God and disappoint him when we do in a slov- 
enly way anything, however small, that he gives 
us to do. 

The lesson is for the housekeeper, for the stu- 
dent, for the teacher, for the preacher, for the 
boy at play, for the singer — less than the best 
we can do dishonors God. Get your lessons at 
school as well as you can. In the games in 
which you take a part, do not play languidly, 
indifferently, indolently, but with enthusiasm 
and earnestness, and all the skill you can com- 
mand. Dress neatly and tidily as you can ; 
even if your clothes are well worn, have them 
clean. Make your room as bright and beauti- 
ful as possible. Always speak as correctly, 
gracefully, and impressively as you can. enunci- 
ating every syllable distinctly, and making sure 
of your pronunciation. 

We may carry the lesson also into the highest 
things. We should live our best every day. 
We should always " approve the things that are 
excellent."' We should be just as careful when 
no human eye is upon us as when we are work- 



ON DOING OUR BEST. 1 63 



ing under the gaze of thousands. God is not 
a hard master, not unreasonable in his demands 
upon us. He does not expect great skill in a 
beginner. He does not demand that a child- 
Christian shall be as mature in thought, dispo- 
sition, act, and character as an aged saint. He 
does not expect a plain Christian to be as elo- 
quent in witnessing for Christ as the minister, 
after years of training and experience. But he 
expects us to do always what we can, — our best. 

" She hath done what she could " was very 
sweet and gracious commendation. But Mary's 
"what she could" was a rich offering; it was 
the costliest thing in her possession. We must 
never put God off with anything unworthy. In 
ancient times no lame or blemished animal 
could be offered in sacrifice to God ; the offerer 
must always bring the best he had. We should 
never give God anything broken or soiled. It 
seems desecration to put in God's offering torn 
bills and battered coins, or to give in charity 
garments which are so worn that we ourselves 
would be ashamed to wear them. We should 
give God the best of everything we have, — the 
true first-fruits of all our life and work. 

We should make the most we can of our life, 
and rise to better attainments every day. The 
way to do this is in every smallest task and 



164 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



duty, in every thought, word, and act, to do our 
very best. Lowell puts it well in his lines 
" For an Autograph," when he tells us that 
though the thought may be old and ofttimes 
expressed, it is his at last who says it best : — 

Life is a leaf of paper white, 
Whereon each one of us may write 
His word or two, and then comes night. 

" Lo, time and space enough," we cry, 
" To write an epic ! 99 so we try 
Our nibs upon the edge, and die. 

Muse not which way the pen to hold, 
Luck hates the slow and loves the bold, 
Soon comes the darkness and the cold. 

Greatly begin ! though thou have time 
But for a line, be that sublime; 
Not failure, but low aim, is crime. 

Ah ! with what lofty hope we came ! 
But we forget it, dream of fame, 
And scrawl, as I do here, a name. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



ABOUT YOUR SHADOW. 

There is in the New Testament a beautiful 
story which tells of the power of a good man's 
shadow. The people brought out their sick, 
and laid them along the sides of the road when 
this man was to pass, that his shadow might 
fall upon them ; and we are told that they were 
healed, every one. 

Of course it was a supernatural power which 
wrought so wondrously in that man's shadow. 
God was pleased to use it in this way to impress 
the people with the divineness of Christianity. 
We cannot expect that we shall be able to work 
miracles of healing through our shadow. But 
we all cast shadows wherever we go, and our 
shadow has either wholesome or unwholesome 
influence over other lives. 

We think of a shadow as something dark. It 
is made by an object coming between us and 
the light. It is therefore an intercepting, a 
cutting off, of brightness. Night is a shadow, 
— the shadow made by the earth coming be- 
165 



1 66 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



tween us and the sun. It is not an altogether 
unwelcome phenomenon, however, though the 
sun is hidden for a time and darkness gath- 
ers about us. Even night has its compensa- 
tions. One is the glorious revealing of the 
stars, which we should never see but for our 
passing into the shadow of the night. There 
are other shadows which in like manner reveal 
more than they hide. There are sorrows which 
darken the world for us, but show us meanwhile 
the stars of divine promise. 

Every one who approaches us or stands by 
us casts a shadow upon us. There are some 
human shadows which make the world darker 
for us. There are people whose presence does 
not bring light and joy to us. They make us 
less happy. They make it harder for us to live 
sweetly, cheerfully, and victoriously. They 
come in with their sadness, their fears, their 
worries, their doubts, and cast deep gloom over 
us. 

There are other persons whose shadow is 
white. Instead of intercepting the light, the 
brightness appears to stream through them and 
to be all the brighter. The rainbow is a kind 
of glorified shadow. A sunbeam falls upon a 
drop of water, and its wonderful threads are 
unravelled, disentangled, as it shines through, 



ABOUT YOUR SHADOW. 1 67 



and instead of a white shadow we have seven 
colors spread upon the cloud. There are some 
people who act on the light of Christ's love 
as the crystal drop of water acts upon the beam 
of sunshine, separating it into elements of won- 
derful beauty, interpreting it into the loveliness 
of human tenderness, sympathy, and helpful- 
ness, and bringing it down into the sphere of 
common life. 

Every Christian should cast a rainbow 
shadow, not cutting off from friends the bright- 
ness of the light of Christ's face, but making 
it all the richer because of its human interpre- 
ting. The blessing of the love of Christ should 
be in the influence of every Christian. Where- 
ever we go there should be healing in our 
shadow. Others should be better and truer for 
seeing and knowing us. Wherever we go we 
should carry cheer and gladness. It should be 
easier for our friends to be good because they 
know us and see our life. Our shadow, even 
as we pass along the street, should heal those 
upon whom it falls. We should always be in- 
spirers of the good possibilities in those whom 
we influence. 

"Be noble, and the nobleness that lies 
In other men, sleeping, but never dead, 
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own." 



1 68 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



This subject is a very personal one, for every 
one has a shadow of his own. The question is, 
What kind of shadow do you cast ? What is 
the effect of your presence on other people ? 
Do you inspire cheerfulness, gladness, and hope 
wherever you go? Or is the effect of your in- 
fluence depressing and disheartening? 

There are persons who suppose themselves to 
be very sympathetic with others in trouble who 
really make trouble and pain harder to bear, 
or, rather, make their friends less able to en- 
dure. When they sit down beside the sick, 
the whole drift of their words is towards the 
emphasizing and intensifying of the illness. 
They draw out from the patient a recital of his 
sufferings and of his own feelings, and by look 
and word express their sense of the seriousness 
of his condition. But they do nothing to put 
new strength or cheer into his heart. They 
think they have been playing the part of a very 
gentle and sympathetic friend, whereas they 
have only aggravated the illness, and made it 
harder for the patient to endure. They only 
deepen life's shadows for others. 

When they find a man discouraged over any 
unfortunate circumstances in his life, they listen 
to his plaint with tender feelings, expressing 
their pity, assenting to all that he says about 



ABOUT YOUR SHADOW. 169 



his difficulties or misfortunes, but not saying 
one heartening word. 

They come to a friend who is in sorrow, and 
sit down beside him in his darkened home, 
weeping with him, and entering into all the 
painful elements of his grief; but they fail to 
bring to him any strong comfort. They make 
it only harder for him to endure his sorrow. 

In each case these good people think they 
have shown deep and tender sympathy because 
they have condoled with their friends in their 
trouble. But in each case they have left a de- 
pressing influence. They have entered fully 
enough into the painful elements of the experi- 
ence which they wished to alleviate ; but there 
is no help in this, if that be all that one does. 
Such sympathy is hurtful. It only makes the 
burden heavier and the way darker, while the 
heart is left with less hope and comfort for its 
struggle. There vre too many people that 
cast such shadows as these. They intercept 
the light, and leave darkness and chill on the 
life on which their influence falls. 

Peter's shadow had healing power in it. The 
sick upon whom it rested even for a moment, 
as he passed by, became strong and well, and 
rose up cured and happy. There are those in 
every community who carry with them, wher- 



170 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ever they go, a like influence of healing and 
blessing. They bear into a sick-room a deli- 
cate sympathy, which not only enters into the 
experience of the suffering, but puts new cheer 
and hope into the heart of the sufferer. They 
speak encouraging and inspiring words. Their 
face has in it a message of cheer wherever it 
appears. They bring some promise of God, 
some word of hope and encouragement. The 
discouraged man they meet is made to feel not 
only that he has found a friend who is truly 
interested in him, but also that, after all, his 
case is not so hopeless as he imagined it to 
be, and that he need not despair. He is ready 
to try again. The mourner whom they visit is 
made conscious of a friendship that not only 
understands his sorrow and is truly sympa- 
thetic, but that also puts into his heart a secret 
strength, which, though it does not take away 
any part of his grief, yet leaves him better able 
to bear it. 

These are illustrations of the power of a 
healing shadow. There are people who carry 
benedictions wherever they go. Every life 
they overshadow, even for a moment, receives 
some blessing from them. The secret is that 
they are filled with love — the love of Christ 
abiding in them. Love is always self-forgetful, 



ABOUT YOUR SHADOW. \J\ 



and desires to do good to others ; to minister, 
not to be ministered unto; to help, not to be 
helped. Love is thoughtful also; careful never 
to give pain, to add to another's burdens, to 
make life harder for another. 

Another element in a healthful and health- 
giving shadow is victoriousness. We must be 
overcomers ourselves before we can help others 
to overcome. One who himself yields to dis- 
couragement cannot be an encourager of others. 
One who is crushed by sorrow, and does not get 
God's comfort for himself, cannot be a com- 
forter of others in their sorrow. It is frequently 
said that one who has suffered is fitted to be a 
helper of others because he understands what 
pain and struggle are, and knows how to help. 
But this depends on how he has come through 
his suffering or his trial. If he has not been 
victorious, if he lies still in the shadows of 
defeat, he has no experience that fits him to 
enter into helpful sympathy with others in like 
experiences. But one who has been a victor in 
life's battles is able to be a comforter, and an 
inspirer of those he meets who are in the midst 
of struggle or trial. If you would have a heal- 
ing shadow, you must learn the secret of Christ's 
victoriousness. 

Every young person should seek to have an 



172 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

influence which will be a benediction wherever 
it reaches. The way to have such a shadow is 
to be filled with the mind that was in Christ 
Jesus. Then our name will be as ointment 
poured forth — a holy fragrance. Then our life 
will be full of wholesome and healthful inspi- 
rations. Then wherever we go we will make it 
easier for others to live victoriously. Some 
one makes this little prayer: — 

May every soul that touches mine, 

Be it the slightest contact, get therefrom some good, 

Some little grace, one kindly thought, 

One aspiration yet unfelt, one bit of courage. 

The other day one who is ill wrote to a 
friend: "You are such a comfort. You make 
people forget half their pain when you are near 
them." This friend has learned the secret of 
the healing shadow. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



YOUR LITTLE BROTHER. 

Many young people have younger brothers, 
little brothers sometimes, in their home. In 
every such case there is a responsibility which 
is not always recognized. If older brothers and 
sisters knew the influence they have over their 
little brothers it would make them very thought- 
ful. 

It was a belief of the Jews that to every per- 
son was assigned a guardian angel, who watched 
all the steps from birth to death. Perhaps this 
is true. It certainly is a very comforting 
thought. But whether it be true or not that 
particular angels are assigned to care for peo- 
ple's lives in their journey through this world, it 
is no doubt true that older brothers and sisters 
are divinely appointed guardians for younger 
children. An angel is a messenger. No doubt 
many of God's angels are human friends whom 
he sends on his errands. Mrs. Sangster has 
some pleasant lines about angels. She refers 
to the appearance of these messengers in the 
olden days, and then says : - — 

i73 



174 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



But in these days I know my angels well ; 

They brush my garments on the common way ; 
They take my hand, and very softly tell 

Some bit of comfort in the waning day. 

And though their angel names I do not ken, 
Though in their faces human want I read ; 

They are God-given to this world of men, 
God-sent to bless it in its hour of need. 

Child, mother, dearest wife, brave hearts that take 
The rough and bitter cross, and help us bear 

Its heavy weight when strength is like to break ; 
God bless you each, our angels unaware. 

The story of Miriam and little Moses is one of 
the most charming stories of the Bible. While 
the baby lay in the ark among the bulrushes, 
by the water's edge, the young girl with quick 
ear and keen eye stood not far away, — near 
enough to see all that went on, and to be of 
instant help in case of danger. In many and 
many a home older sisters have played the role 
of Miriam to perfection. Many a man to-day 
occupying an important position in the world 
owes the opportunities by which he was enabled 
to rise to his position to an older sister, who 
kept sacred watch over his infancy and early 
years. There are many men to-day in the pro- 
fessions and occupying high places in the world, 



YOUR LITTLE BROTHER. 1 75 

who came from homes amid straitened circum- 
stances, and who owe all they are to the sister 
who forgot herself, practised self-denials, and 
toiled early and late, that the brother she loved 
might go to school and to college, and thus 
have a chance to rise to the honor which she 
in her loving heart had dreamed for him. 

Then sometimes alas! when the man is out 
in the world, wearing honors, he forgets the 
weary woman, living somewhere in obscurity, 
perhaps in poverty, to whom he owes all his 
distinction and greatness. 

It may be worth while to call the attention 
of older brothers and sisters to the little brother 
at home, who needs guidance, encouragement, 
and stimulus. Far more than you know he 
watches you, and is influenced by your every 
movement. He will be impressed much more 
also by what you do and what you are than by 
any teaching he may receive. 

It is important that you know just how to 
make the most of your influence over him. 
You cannot do it by perpetually nagging at 
him ; nagging is one of the most mischievous 
vices of the home-life. It is all the worse be- 
cause it is practised in the name of piety and 
virtue. The best you can do for him is first of 
all to be good yourself. When the young Prin- 



176 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



cess Victoria discovered one day that she was 
near the throne, she said, " I must be good." 
The thought of the great responsibility which 
some day might be hers impressed her most 
wholesomely. When you think of the influence 
you are to exercise over your little brother, 
you should settle it once for all that you will 
be good. 

Another thing you can do will be to form 
a close friendship with him. Take him into 
your confidence. Let him talk to you freely 
and familiarly. 

Teach him to trust you, and never betray his 
confidence. Be a loyal friend to him. Treat 
even his most childish fancies with respect. 
Never laugh at him. Do not hurry his devel- 
opment : it is like trying to hasten the opening 
of a flower ; only harm can be done by such a 
process. 

You can answer his questions, and you ought 
to do it very patiently. Remember it is a new 
world in which he is living. Everyday brings 
him into a new chamber of wonders. He ought 
to ask questions. He would not be a whole- 
some child if he did not. You can help him 
by trying to answer these questions. You can 
guide his reading. You can quietly influence 
him in the choosing of his friends. This is 



YOUR LITTLE BROTHER. 1 77 



very important. He does not know the good 
from the evil, and you can withdraw him from 
the company of those with whom it were better 
he should not associate. You can set before 
him visions of beauty which will become in- 
fluences to draw him toward the best things. 

If your own heart be right, and if you keep 
yourself in the spirit of childhood, you will be 
able to lead him in safe ways. The world is 
full of dangers. Your little brother hears on 
the streets many things he ought not to hear. 
You can quietly lead him so that he will in- 
stinctively repel all temptations to anything 
low or base or mean or impure. You can turn 
his mind toward the possibilities of beauty 
within his reach. 

Without forcing him into precocity, which is 
monstrosity, you can continually keep before 
him noble things in disposition, in conduct, in 
character, thus quietly inspiring in him the 
desire to fill his own life with such worthy 
things. 

There is a great responsibility in having a 
little brother. He is always around, and you 
cannot get out of his sight. He has keen eyes 
too, and sees all that you do. You dare not 
live carelessly in his presence, for you may be- 
come his stumbling-block. There should be 



178 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

nothing in your example which you would 
be sorry to see again in him. 

This little brother of yours loves you, and 
wants to trust you. Your influence over him 
will be almost unbounded; you must see to it 
that this influence is pure and wholesome in 
every way. 

The older brother must answer for his little 
brother ; he is his keeper. He must make 
himself worthy of his sacred trust. If his own 
heart is not clean, if his own mind is not whole- 
some, if his own hands are stained, he is not fit 
to be a boy's older brother. 

The thing for the older brother to do in such 
a case is not to thrust the boy away from his 
natural place of confidence and affection, but 
to bring up his own life to the true standard of 
purity, sweetness, and beauty, where he shall be 
worthy to be a friend of Christ's little ones. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE BLESSING OF WORK. 

Some persons have the impression that work 
is part of the curse that sin brought into the 
world. They imagine that if our first parents 
had not fallen, they would never have had any- 
thing to do, that they would have walked about 
forever among the trees of Paradise and by the 
rivers, having a good time. They suppose that 
they were doomed to work as part of the pen- 
alty of their sin. 

But this is a mistaken impression, which a 
careful reading of the story of Eden and the 
fall will quickly remove. We learn here that 
after the creation the Lord took the man, and 
put him in the garden of Eden to " dress it and 
to keep it. " That is, work was part of the un- 
fallen life in Paradise. It was never meant that 
man should have nothing to do. Idleness was 
not part of the Edenic happiness. 

No doubt the fall changed the character of 
work. Man was turned out of the garden ; and 
these words were spoken to him, " Cursed is the 
179 



l8o YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ground for thy sake ; in toil shalt thou eat of it 
all the days of thy life ; thorns also and thistles 
shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat 
the herb of the field ; in the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground." 

We may infer that before the fall work was 
congenial and pleasant, without burden or care, 
and that after sin had left its blight on the earth 
work became toil, with vexing and sorrow, with 
thorns and thistles for yield instead of golden 
harvests. Yet we must never forget that work 
was part of man's lot, even in Paradise. There- 
fore work itself is not a curse, but a blessing. 
All life testifies to this. Everywhere we find 
work one of the conditions of good and hap- 
piness. God himself is active. "My Father 
worketh hitherto, and I work," said the Master. 
God is never idle. The Decalogue enjoins 
work as a divine ordinance. " Six days shalt 
thou labor." 

Jesus sanctified labor by working with his 
own hands as a carpenter. St. Paul wrought 
at a common trade while engaged in doing some 
of the most wonderful missionary work the 
world has ever known. He was never ashamed 
of being a workingman, but gloried in the fact 
that his own hands had ministered to his neces- 



THE BLESSING OF WORK. l8l 



sities. He also spoke strongly in commenda- 
tion of work, and stingingly of the reproach of 
idleness. " If any will not work, neither let 
him eat." Then he added that he had heard 
of some that walked among the Christians dis- 
orderly, that worked not at all, but were busy- 
bodies. That is, being idle, with nothing to do, 
they busied themselves in other people's affairs, 
not helping them, but meddling, gossipping. 
This is one of the surest fruits of idleness. 
These persons the apostle commanded and ex- 
horted that they should work quietly, and eat 
their own bread, — bread earned with their own 
hands. 

It would be easy to gather from the pens of 
many writers strong words on the blessing of 
work. For example, this from Emerson : " Work 
in every hour, paid or unpaid ; see only that 
thou work, and thou canst not escape the re- 
ward ; wmether thy work be fine or coarse, 
planting corn or writing epics, so only it be 
honest work, done to thine own approbation, it 
shall earn a reward to the senses as well as 
to the thought. No matter how often defeated, 
you are born to victory. The reward of a thing 
well done is to have done it." 

Henry Drummond said : " The three ingre- 
dients of a perfect life are — work, which gives 



1 82 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS 



opportunity ; God, who gives happiness ; love, 
that gives warmth. Whenever the world is all 
wrong, seemingly, examine your life, and see if 
one of these ingredients is not wanting. The 
ideal perfect and divine life was spent, not with 
a book, but with a hammer and a saw. There 
is nothing greater in the world than the simple 
doing of every-day tasks. Work is our moral 
education ; no work, no opportunities. The 
farm is not a place only for the growing of 
stock; the shop is not the place for the grow- 
ing of machines alone. They are the places for 
the growing of souls." 

Work is one of the best means of grace. 
Whatever helps in one's growth and develop- 
ment of life and character is a means of grace. 
Without work one never can grow. Idleness 
breeds disease. It is always unwholesome. No 
matter how much money one may have, though 
it be unnecessary for him to earn anything, yet 
for the sake of the saving of his own life and 
for his mere physical well-being, he ought to do 
his share in the world's work. We have no 
right to our daily bread until we have earned 
it. We must work, too, for the sake of others. 
Not to do anything is to be a parasite, giving 
nothing to the world, which gives us so many 
blessings. 



THE BLESSING OF WORK. 1 83 

One cannot be a good Christian and be idle, 
unless one is really physically disqualified for 
labor of every kind ; in such a case the bless- 
ing comes upon the willing heart, though the 
hands must be folded. Prayer without work is 
but one wing to the soul, which can only flutter 
along the ground and cannot fly. There are 
times when even holy devotions must be given 
up for holier duty. Among the legends of the 
monastic orders it is written : " Although St. 
Francesca was unwearied in her devotions, yet 
if during her prayers she was called away by her 
husband or any domestic duty, she would close 
the book cheerfully, saying that a wife and 
mother when called upon must quit her God at 
the altar to find him in her domestic affairs." 
This is very suggestive. There are times when 
to stay on one's knees at prayer would be sin : 
God calls to some imperative service, and 
his call must be obeyed. 

When we pray that grace may abound in us, 
and that we may become more and more like 
Christ, the blessing will not likely come in 
frames of mind, in devout feelings, in exalted 
spiritual states, but in new calls to duty, to ser- 
vice, to work, — 

" Till there seems room for everything but Thee, 
And never time for anything but these." 



1 84 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



It is in our work that God comes nearest to 
us, and that Christ enters most deeply into our 
experiences, and brings to us the sweetest joy. 

" The busy fingers fly, the eyes may see 

Only the glancing needle which they hold ; 

But all my life is blossoming inwardly, 

And every breath is like a litany, 

While through each labor, like a thread of gold, 

Is woven the sweet consciousness of thee." 

The kind of work we should do depends upon 
what we are divinely fitted to do. It may be 
on a farm, or in a shop, or in a store. It may 
be in common household tasks. It may be in 
some intellectual pursuit, or in direct service 
for Christ. Every one should have a calling, 
and should devote himself to it with enthusiasm. 
A large part of the blessing is in the work itself. 
Even if the thing we do is not valuable, or seems 
to yield no result, there is still a blessing in 
merely being busy. If one has to work without 
pay, it is better than to be idle. If one has 
nothing to do, it is better to find some task, 
though it be but carrying water to pour into the 
sand, than to sit with folded hands in unwhole- 
some idleness. 

The lesson is for the young people, because 
it is in youth that we must learn to work if ever 



THE BLESSING OF WORK. 1 85 

we do. Work is health. Work is life. Work 
is the way to strength and power. Work builds 
up the character, and knits the thews of manli- 
ness. Work carries in itself one of the prime 
secrets of happiness. Idleness is never truly 
happy ; but he who labors with all his might has 
a good conscience, and sleeps sweetly. Work 
is one of God's best ways of giving comfort. 
" Had it not been for my work," said one after 
a great sorrow, t; I should never have rallied ; 
my hard work saved me." 

These are suggestions of the blessings of 
work. The young people are fortunate who by 
the conditions of their early life are required 
to engage in regular, uninterrupted, and even 
severe labor. Thus they are not only trained 
to self-dependence, but their abilities are devel- 
oped, their character is formed into strength ; 
they are prepared for happy, wholesome, useful 
living, and their lives thus become blessings in 
the world. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



a girl's questions. 

Every girl has questions. Her brain teems 
with them — her heart too. She ought to have 
questions. If she had not she would not be a 
living girl, at least she would be living to very 
small purpose. Questions are the keys which 
open doors within which we find life's better 
things. 

Girls are not all alike. It would not be true 
to say that to answer one girl's questions would 
be to answer every girl's questions. But cer- 
tainly to answer one girl's questions will throw 
light upon the questions of many others. From 
a bright, interesting letter, bristling with in- 
terrogation points, a little handful of earnest 
inquiries is gathered for this chapter, in the 
belief that others may be helped by the answers 
that are given. 

" There is one thing — we hear it talked 
about so much, and even preached about — 
how girls fall below what is expected of them, 
and are such disappointments." The writer 
1 86 



A GIRL'S QUESTIONS. 



187 



continues, "What really is expected of girls? 
It hardly seems fair for people to make out 
their own ideal, and then measure all girls by 
that one standard. Aren't circumstances to 
make any difference, and different natures, sur- 
roundings, and friends ? There are so many 
things which ought to count. It does seem as 
though people sometimes uncharitably forget 
the i Judge not.' " 

That is a fair question, — " What is expected 
of girls ? " No doubt there is much thoughtless 
unreasonableness in some of these expectations. 
Really nothing should be expected of girls but 
that they be true and noble, living near Christ, 
and faithfully realizing the religion of the cross. 
Of course it is very unfair to expect all girls, or 
even any two of them, to be precisely alike. It 
is said that no two faces in all the world's mil- 
lions are alike in every feature. Much less 
can any two lives be exactly the same. Noth- 
ing hurts one more than trying to be like some- 
body else. Let every girl be her sweetest and 
best self, growing into the beauty of her noble 
ideals. Let her please God with her life — 
that is all. 

" When a girl wakes up to the knowledge that 
she is disagreeable, — a fact that other people 
have found out long ago, — what shall she do ? " 



1 88 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

It surely is not a pleasant waking for any 
girl, thus to become conscious some sad day 
that she is disagreeable. It is apt to discourage 
her, and to make the disagreeableness even 
more marked and emphatic. But the question 
is, " What shall she do ? " People answer, 
" Make yourself attractive ; be agreeable ; be 
lovable." But it is not easy to follow such 
advice. One cannot, just in a moment, by a 
sudden resolve, work such a transformation in 
one's self. A girl who is not beautiful cannot 
by a mental process make herself lovely. One 
who has an unhappy disposition cannot by 
merely willing it become sunny and cheerful. 
One whose manners are disagreeable cannot 
some morning in her room lay off all that is 
offensive, unattractive, or unrefined in herself, 
and come out into the street with graceful and 
winning ways. Such transformations can be 
wrought only gradually. The beautiful things 
are set in lessons for us, line upon line, and are 
to be learned, wrought into the character little 
by little. The unattractive girl can make her- 
self attractive, but not by any mere resolve to 
be so. Magical transformations belong only 
to fairy stories, not to real life. 

The only cure for any kind of disagreeable- 
ness is love in the heart. Mr. Drummond tells 



A GIRL'S QUESTIONS. 1 89 



of a plain young girl who grew into wonderful 
sweetness of disposition ; and the secret was 
found at last in a little word of Scripture which 
was the real creed of her life, — u Whom having 
not seen, ye love. 7 ' The love of Christ in her 
heart had transformed her. We know, too, how 
it transformed Mary ; sitting at the feet of 
Jesus, and hearing his words, love for him 
changed her into radiant beauty. 

It is the want of love that ails all disagreea- 
ble people ; they do not love, and they are not 
lovable. They are selfish or they are censori- 
ous, or they are discontented and fretful, or 
they are proud, haughty, and supercilious, or 
they are exacting or soured, or they are self- 
conscious and unwholesome in their life. Love 
will cure it, however, whatever the disagreeable- 
ness is. It will make the homely face beautiful. 
People forget unattractive ways if the heart and 
life be sweet with love. Some one tells of a 
homely woman who became the best loved and 
the most honored woman in all the community 
simply by a life of love which wrought itself out 
in her in untiring service. The only thing for 
the disagreeable girl to do is to get her heart 
and life full of love. 

" Then there are the blue times — I wish I 
knew how to keep out of the blues." 



190 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



The dictionary defines " blues" as low spirits, 
melancholy, hypochondria. The word is said 
to be a contraction for blue-devils, which is a 
suggestion of delirium, when evil spirits seem 
to have possession. This somewhat uncanny 
suggestion ought to warn every girl against ever 
yielding to the blues. It is letting into her life 
an evil influence, an evil spirit, which can pro- 
duce only wretchedness. 

But how to keep from having the blues, or 
how to get clear of them, is the question. One 
way is to train one's self ever to look on the 
bright side, and never on the dark. The secret 
of this habit must be found in two things, — 
faithful obedience to God, and simple trust in 
God. The peace of God in the heart will always 
drive out the blues. There is an inspired word 
which says, " Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace whose mind is stayed on thee." Here we 
have the secret of peace, — staying the mind 
upon God. The keeping us in peace belongs, 
then, to God. One who is thus kept cannot be 
blue. 

But suppose one has allowed the blues to 
come without resistance into the heart again 
and again, till now one see A ns to have no power 
to combat the miserable feeling ; is there any 
cure ? Yes, although it will take longer time to 



A GIRL'S QUESTIONS. 191 



dislodge the demon, and the dislodging will be 
harder to accomplish. Jesus said there were 
certain demons which could be driven out only 
by special prayer and fasting. He meant they 
were very hard to cast out. When the blues 
have had their way in a life for a long time it 
takes much prayer and sore struggle to drive 
the demons out. Still, no case is hopeless when 
we have Christ. The worst depression of spirits 
can be transformed into the joy of the Lord in 
the heart. Jesus overcame all the world ; and 
there is no evil so strong that he cannot subdue 
it, and put in its place a virtue. 

" Then, how about the people you don't like? 

Miss R , for example ? I don't want to draw 

into my shell, and be cold and disagreeable to 
her, and yet — I know she is lonely and home- 
sick, and she asked me to love her if I could. 
But if you knew how she rubs me the wrong 
way, you would understand. What do you do 
with such people ? Or perhaps it is, What do 
you do with yourself? " 

The last question puts the emphasis where it 
will have to be kept, — " What do you do with 
yourself ? " When other people are disagree- 
able or hateful, when they antagonize us and 
irritate us, — rub us the wrong way, — it is not 
likely that we can do much to change them, to 



192 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

make them sweet and agreeable, to incline them 
to be more kindly, respectful, genial, or affec- 
tionate toward us. We shall have to school 
ourselves into greater patience, into firmer self- 
restraint, into sweeter humility, into gentler 
love, so that the disagreeableness and the un- 
kindliness of others shall have no power to dis- 
turb the holy quiet of our soul. 

The real problem in life is not to find easy 
circumstances in which to live, — a new para- 
dise where nothing uncongenial shall ever come 
near to us, — but to have in ourselves the secret 
of sweetness, which nothing can disturb. We 
are so to relate ourselves to others that their 
evil shall have no power to hurt us. We may 
not be able to transform into lovableness the 
people we do not like ; but instead of drawing 
into our shell, and being cold and disagreeable 
to them, our heart must go out to them in love, 
and we must be as Christ to them. That is the 
best way to cure them. Besides, when we begin 
to treat them in this way, we shall find in them 
beauty and good we had never suspected before. 
The way to bring out the best there is in others 
is to expect the best, and to treat them always 
with love. Loving people hides their faults, and 
calls out in them whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are lovely. 




A GIRL'S QUESTIONS. 1 93 



These are some of the questions of one girl. 
Her closing sentences are : " Don't forget the 
encouraging part. If people only knew how we 
long for it sometimes ! A little praise occasion- 
ally would not make us vain, would not turn our 
head, and certainly would do us more good than 
harm. It would help us sometimes so much ! " 

This is very true. People need nothing so 
much as encouragement. An artist said his 
mother's kiss made him a painter. Wise cheer 
is always full of inspiration. The man who 
writes or speaks discouraging words is a doer 
of evil. We have no right ever to be discour- 
agers ; we should live always to be encoura- 
ges. 

In every girl's heart visions of beauty throng, 
and every one of these visions is a glimpse of 
something she may become. Her mission is to 
get these holy visions wrought into her life and 
character. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



WHAT IS THE COMFORT? 

He had just completed his long course of 
preparation. He had been graduated from the 
University, and then from the Theological Sem- 
inary. He had been called as pastor of an in- 
teresting church, and had been ordained and 
installed. Then almost immediately he became 
ill. He was tenderly watched over. The best 
medical skill was procured in his behalf, and 
all that could be done was done. But all 
availed not. One October day he sank away 
into the quietness and stillness of death. 

Truly it seemed a mysterious providence. 
The sadness is always peculiar when a young 
person dies. The old have filled up the meas- 
ure of their days, and have finished their work ; 
but the young are only beginning to realize the 
dream of their heart. This young man died at 
the close of a long and costly preparation for 
life. He gave also unusual promise of a most 
successful career. " He will be an eloquent 
preacher," men said. Yet after all this course 
194 



WHAT IS THE COMFORT? 195 

of training, and with all this brilliant promise 
for the future, he had no opportunity to try his 
powers. The consecrated talents laid upon 
the altar were employed in no active service of 
earth. Ready for beautiful and noble work, his 
hands were at once folded in death's repose. 

From childhood his parents had watched over 
his life with gentlest care. They had brought 
him up for Christ. They had given the most 
diligent and intelligent thought to his educa- 
tion, sparing no pains and no cost that he 
might be well fitted for the chosen work of his 
life. They had dreamed large things for his 
future. They had expected that his voice would 
be heard throughout the land in eloquent tones 
as he delivered his message from God to men. 
No words can describe the bitterness of their 
grief and disappointment as they bent over the 
coffin, which held not only the precious form of 
their beloved son, but seemed to hold also all 
the fond dreams and hopes of their hearts for 
him. 

What is the comfort of the religion of Christ 
in such a case as this? There must be com- 
fort, for life has no experiences for the believer 
in which the light of the gospel does not shine. 
One comfort is that death really interrupts 
nothing beautiful and good in a Christian life. 



I96 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

A mother was speaking of a daughter who had 
died just after finishing a long course of educa- 
tion, and was lamenting that all her costly train- 
ing had been in vain. The friend to whom she 
was speaking replied that all education was 
valueless which was not for eternity. 

It might seem that it was scarcely worth 
while to spend so much in the education of this 
young man, when he did not live to make any 
use of his trained powers in this world. But 
we must remember that his life belonged to 
Christ, and that his early death meant only that 
his Master had called him to service elsewhere, 
nearer the throne. His parents did not know 
it ; but through all the years of their self-denial 
for his sake and their patient nurturing of his 
life, they were educating and preparing their 
son for service in the blessed fields of glory, 
instead of for ministry on the earth. Could any 
honor be greater than this ? The long, patient 
training was not in vain ; he is finding oppor- 
tunities now for the use of all his fine gifts and 
cultured powers in the holy service in which he 
is engaged close to Christ. 

There was another most pathetic element in 
this providential mystery. The young man was 
engaged to a noble girl. For years they had 
loved each other, and had ardently dreamed of 



WHAT IS THE COMFORT? 1 97 

the day when they would be united in marriage. 
This dream, too, seemed on the verge of fulfil- 
ment. They intended in a little while to be 
wedded, and then to set up their home in the 
parish over which he had become the pastor. 
But this sweet dream was not realized ; it, too, 
lay among the broken hopes that were folded 
up and shut away in the coffin. 

What comfort has the gospel of Christ for 
this sorely bereft and sorrowing child in her 
pathetic loneliness ? For one thing, she has 
the assurance that this strange thing which has 
happened was no accident. The two faithful 
lovers had their sweet dream of life together in 
this world. They hoped to share each other's 
cares and trials, and to go hand in hand in their 
work for Christ. But this was not the divine pur- 
pose for their lives. From the beginning it was 
the Master's plan that one of them, when fully 
trained and ready for service, should be trans- 
ferred to another field, in a brighter country, 
while the other should remain on earth, to 
serve Christ here, without the loved compan- 
ionship. 

This separation, therefore, was no accident, 
no surprise to God ; it came as part of the divine 
plan for their two young lives. Hence we know 
it was not a calamity to either. The years of 



I98 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 

love had their part in the building up of the 
character and the culture of the spirit of him 
who was called to higher service. He is the 
better servant of his Master now in the bright 
fields where he is, for the enriching of his life 
which that sweet love wrought in him. She who 
was left has also received from the experiences 
of love an enlargement and a culture of heart, 
by which she has been fitted for gentler and 
more effective ministry in this world. Then the 
sorrow through which she has passed has also 
had its influence upon her life, anointing her 
for yet holier and more helpful service. 

She is not the girl she was in those light- 
hearted days when the two used to walk and 
talk together while love's dreams were so bright. 
It is not long since ; but in the little time she 
has learned strange lessons — lessons which 
have gone deep into her soul. All life has been 
changed for her, and in her too. She is a woman 
now, set apart by the baptism of sorrow. The 
light still shines in her face ; but it is not morn- 
ing light now, it is the serious light of the mid- 
day. She has new joy now — joy which is 
sorrow transfigured, glorified. God's comfort 
is in her heart, and a holy peace is in her eyes. 
She has experienced sore loss, but she never 
was so rich as she is now. 



WHAT IS THE COMFORT? 1 99 

" What can the brown earth do, 

Drenched and dripping through, 
To the heart, and dazzled by the sight 
Of the light 

That cometh after rain ? 

What can the hurt life do, 
Healing through and through, 
Caught and captured by the slow increase 
Of the peace 
That cometh after pain ? 

I would not miss the flower 
Budded in the shower 
That lives to lighten all the wealthy scene 
Where rain has been, 
That blossoms after pain!" 

This bereft child need not think of her life- 
work as in any real sense broken up by the 
sorrow which has brought such disappointment. 
It is still God's plan for her that is going on 
amid the desolation of her hopes. Her friend's 
work in this world was finished when he passed 
over to take up new and holier service ; but her 
work is yet here, and she must not lose an hour 
even for sorrow. Her grief was but an incident 
in her life ; and she must not allow her spirit to 
be broken by it, or her serving of Christ to be 
hindered. With heart made more tender by the 
pain, with hand made more gentle, with sym- 



200 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



pathy deepened and her whole nature enriched, 
she is ready to go out now to be a blessing to 
many. God will care for her life, that no sweet 
hope of her heart may perish, but that in some 
other way than she had dreamed of, every holy 
vision of her love shall yet come true. 

" Strange, strange for thee and me, 

Sadly afar ; 
Thou safe beyond, above, 

I 'neath the star ; 
Thou where flowers deathless spring, 

I where they fade ; 
Thou in God's paradise, 

I 'neath time's shade ! 

Strange, strange for thee and me, 

Loved, loving ever ; 
Thou by life's deathless fount, 

I near death's river ; 
Thou winning wisdom's love, 

I strength to trust ; 
Thou 'mid the seraphim, 

I in the dust." 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



LEARNING CONTENTMENT. 

Not many people are contented. Not many 
seem to think discontent a sin. Not many ap- 
pear to understand that contentment is a grace 
which should shine in every Christian charac- 
ter. Yet no grace adds more to the beauty 
and the comfort of a life than this one. It is 
also enjoined in the Scriptures as a duty. 

The time to get this spirit into our life is 
in youth. If one has allowed thirty or forty 
years to pass in discontent and fretfulness, the 
habit is so firmly rooted that it is almost impos- 
sible to change it. But if one begins in child- 
hood to learn to keep sweet in all conditions 
and circumstances, by the time one has reached 
maturity the habit has become so much a part 
of one's very life that it is easy to maintain it. 

Contentment does not mean satisfaction with 
one's attainments. This is a condition which 
is always unreached, unless it be in some indo- 
lent person, one without aspirations and long- 
ings. The end of longing is the end of growing. 
20 1 



202 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



The great sculptor wept when he found that he 
had reached his ideal. He saw that that was 
the end of his progress as an artist. 

Contentment, however, is the spirit of restful- 
ness and peace in whatever circumstances one 
may be placed. St. Paul tells us what it meant 
in his life, when he says, " I have learned, in 
whatsoever state I am, therein to be content." 
The word content means self-sufficing, and im- 
plies that he had in his own heart the secret of 
satisfying, and was not dependent for it on any 
outside circumstances. 

On a dark and stormy night a happy family 
gathers in the living-room of their home. On 
the table the lamp burns brightly. About the 
room the members of the household are grouped. 
There is gladness, conversation, song, cheer. 
The household is independent of the outside 
weather. Beat as the storm may upon the win- 
dows, it disturbs not their zest and gladness. 

This illustrates the secret of contentment. A 
true family have it in their own home, in them- 
selves. Paul carried in his heart the secret of 
peace and of joy, and was not dependent upon 
circumstances. He wrote this strong sentence 
in a prison ; but the prison atmosphere, hard- 
ship, and restraint did not affect his inner life. 

Every Christian should have in himself the 



LEARNING CONTENTMENT. 203 

same secret. We are God's children, and the 
strong Son of God is our Saviour and Friend. 
Our life is hid with Christ in God. Our faith 
should lift us above the hard experiences of 
life. We may be in sorrow, but the sorrow 
should not break the peace. We may have 
suffering, but the suffering should not destroy 
the comfort we have in resting in God. 

It is not our part to keep ourselves in peace 
— God's is the keeping ; ours is the staying 
upon God. We are to let ourselves rest down 
upon God's omnipotence, nestle in the bosom 
of his everlasting love. We are to stay in the 
strong, warm refuge, not restlessly tossing our- 
selves out of it. If we stay in God's love, God 
will keep us in perfect peace. 

We should learn, therefore, to be contented ; 
that is, not to be affected by the things about 
us ; to keep sweet in the most trying experi- 
ences, amid trials and annoyances of whatever 
kind. Living in the midst of cares, we should 
keep the care out of our heart, having there 
only the peace of Christ. 

It may be of special comfort to young Chris- 
tians to note that St. Paul says he had learned 
this lesson of contentment. He was quite an 
old man when he wrote the word, and we may 
suppose that he was a good many years learn- 



204 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



ing it. Probably it was not an easy lesson for 
him, and we may suppose that he got it only 
through long discipline and careful training. 
At least we are quite sure that it does not come 
naturally to any one. We have to learn to be 
contented, and usually it will take us a good 
while to learn it 

This may seem, therefore, not to be a young 
person's problem — to be a lesson which the 
young can scarcely expect to learn. No doubt 
it should be better learned by the time a Chris- 
tian reaches mid-life, yet it is not impossible for 
the young to attain this grace. Contentment 
is not discontent worn-out, exhausted, fretful- 
ness tired into quiet sleep. Contentment is the 
peace of God in the heart, diffusing its restful 
calm through all the life, hushing all its dis- 
turbances. 

The lesson is set for the young, therefore, for 
it is in youth that it must be learned. To grow 
into mid-life or old age discontented is to re- 
main to the end discontented. 

If young people realized how lovely the spirit 
of contentment is, and how unlovely discontent 
is, they would all strive to learn the lesson, 
whatever it may cost them. Discontent mars 
the beauty in the face, makes persons old before 
their time, makes them petulant, disagreeable, 



LEARNING CONTENTMENT. 205 

and uncomfortable companions. On the other 
hand, contentment gives peace, quietness, and 
simplicity. It makes the face sweet, and puts 
into the eyes a calm and holy light. It makes 
one a comfort to others too — a benediction. 
We all know how much discomfort a fretful per- 
son produces in a home or in any association, 
and how a contented person diffuses cheer and 
pleasure everywhere. One secret of lovable- 
ness is a sweet spirit, restful, at peace, quiet, 
and undisturbed in any circumstances. We all 
admire such a person. 

Shall we not set this lesson for ourselves in 
the bright days of youth when we are learning 
to live? Let us trust God and do our duty, 
committing all the tangles and frets to him. He 
will take care of us. Though we must walk 
through dark ways, we shall always find light ; 
for he who is the Light of the world will walk 
with us. 

It is a great thing to have in one's heart 
a fountain which will supply all one's needs. 
Then one can be independent of circumstances 
and of experiences, and be everywhere and al- 
ways the same sweet, quiet, rejoicing Christian. 
Christina Rossetti in one of her exquisite stan- 
zas paints a beautiful picture of the calm and 
restfulness of the contented soul : — 



206 YOUNG PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS. 



We never heard her speak in haste; 

Her tones were sweet, 
And modulated just so much 

As it was meet. 
Her heart sat silent through the noise 

And concourse of the street ; 
There was no hurry in her hands, 

No hurry in her feet. 



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